


The Threshold (Finale)

by virginea



Series: The Threshold [2]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 22,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24568123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virginea/pseuds/virginea
Summary: final drafts of this story.
Series: The Threshold [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775815
Comments: 193
Kudos: 21





	1. Ruins of Summerhall

**Author's Note:**

> For different reasons, this story took me too long to finish and part of the ideas and feelings that I wanted to convey in the end has been lost. I don't want to keep you waiting any longer, so if you are still around, checking from time to time the updates, you are going to find this "draft" or impromptu method where I am going to be adding the final scenes of this story as I write them. Of course, they could be modified by the end.

**Chapter 20: "Queen of the Seven Kingdoms"**

**I.**

**Ruins of Summerhall.**

After Jon's eyes shut, there's just silence as Dany comes to the realisation of what she has just done.

She looks at the small dagger still embedded on him, fearing that if she removes it, he will bleed out. 

She wished she had done it differently, without having to lie to him and make him believe everything would be fine. However, it is better if their last memory together is like this, sincere in the sense that everything she said to him is true, that her desire is to stay with him, and has been since the moment she let him in her heart again, completely.

She hopes he will understand it over time, and that one day he will tell Daejon that she did it for them. Then all the suffering and sacrifice will have been worth it.

It is as it should have been from the beginning.

Dany lays his limp body on the ground and makes sure that the dagger does no more harm than it has already done. Now everything seems more peaceful as if despite the pain, everything makes sense.

She places a warm kiss on his forehead, squeezing her eyes as a cold, lonely tear falls on his eyes.

"I love you now and always," she promises him, standing up and walking around his form trying not to look back because she knows if she does, she won't have the guts to ever leave Summerhall. 

And all the bloody gods be damned, she never wanted to leave.

A shriek of pain shattered the silence as Barristal's crimson form descended from the opened ceiling, landing just in front of her with a thunderous groan that almost pushes Dany backward.

She winces and sobs while staring at his eyes, full of resentment with the traces of Jon's feelings in his mind.

Barristal passes her by, mocking her small figure, towards his rider's unconscious body. Dany stands still, fighting the urgency of turning around to see when the gorgeous beast nudges him to wake him up without succeeding. 

But he's alive. The dragon can feel his heart beating slowly but still on its course. 

So the dragon wraps Jon with his own body, careful not to smash him and covering from the cold while resting his head between his talons.

Dany leaves Summerhall with her dying heart a little bit more broken than already was.


	2. Daenerys says goodbye

**II**.

**Arianne**.

He just sits on the beach and stares at the horizon longly. Arianne does not dare to interrupt his state of trance, and only observes every time she ambles the camp, where she tends the people who need care and speaks to those who wish to be listen to.

Dewyn is not one of those persons.

She forgoes and reassures herself that he will come to himself when he deems it right, but in truth, she doesn't know who he is anymore and she dreads to find out he will never be the Dewyn she knew and loved. 

"Princess, we are ready."

Arianne blinks away the confusion and looks at the man that spoke to her.

"We have to wait for the King and the Queen," she tells the Commander who has replaced Daario. She swallows hard at the memory of the late Commander. Never before had a campaign taken away as much from Arianne's naivety as this. 

He nodded and walked away. 

She made to move forward but the sound of a female voice interrupts her.

"You better leave him alone for a while. It is not easy to assimilate." 

She immediately recognizes Lady Reed. Arianne turns to observe the woman, who is prepared for the last journey, like almost all the exhausted soldiers awaiting the return of the King and the Queen to finally face the real threat that rests in King's Landing.

"How do you know?"

"The mind is the door of the soul. Our common enemy corrupts them both and when he can't, he at least makes sure to leave the door broken." Meera speaks while she arranges her weapons. "There's nothing worse that feeling that you don't own your own actions."

"What can I do?" Arianne queries, heartbroken. 

Meera sighs and looks at Dewyn.

"Wait."

The singing of the dragons interrupts their exchange. The winged shadows cover the island and its characteristic colors shine with the light of the sun that sneaks the coverage of the clouds. One two. Three. Four. Arianne looks up at the sky again, using her hand to cover her vision from the light and counts them again, confirming that a dragon is missing.

The red dragon that responds to Jon Snow, specifically. 

They land in the ruins of the castle of Dragonstone, a weak structure that falls back under the weight of the beasts. They are majestic and fearsome, but not when one is on their side. Arianne sees them as an extension of Daenerys, whom she sees climbing off Jorion.

Arianne walks forward to meet Daenerys and ask her what the state of things is, however, as she gets closer, her footsteps become heavy as if something is sinking her; it is the saddened and reddened face of Daenerys.

"Something happened," she mumbles to herself. 

She had never felt anything similar to what she was experiencing at that moment. Something terminal. As painful as inconceivable. When she thought about how this campaign had worned her out from all naivete, she was referring to this: the reality of war. Everything was imperceptible when she was a simple expectant, waiting behind Daenerys' desk to receive her letters, knowing that no matter where she went and who she was facing...the Dragon Queen was invincible and was going to return home. It is that security that Arianne has lost, replaced by a certainty of adversity.

When both women are halfway there, words are no longer necessary to express what the other needs to convey because all those years they had already said what they needed to say.

Arianne breaks, aware that the time has come to say goodbye permanently.

"Is this the last time I'll see you?" she asked to her friend, her guide. 

“Stop,” she remembers her saying in their first meeting. “I want to hear _her_ speaking."

Arianne was a scared little girl back then.

“What do you wish me to tell you, Your Grace?”

“Call me Daenerys,” Daenerys granted her. “Your father, the Prince, had he took you will in account when he sent you?”

“I…Yes, your Grace. I mean, Daenerys.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

And Arianne never did.

“I have never been this far, Daenerys. I miss my home. But my duty is always to watch over the best interest for my people, and that’s what I told my father.”

They met their eyes back then in understanding and Arianne knows now that that was the very first moment she trust completely in her. 

"Don't lie to me!" she demands what she demanded from her at that long gone memory. 

Daenerys shakes her head from side to side as the tears fall free down her cheeks. She is the most broken woman she has ever seen.

"You'll make a good ruler, Arianne," she says, approaching and grabbing her hands in hers. 

Arianne embraces her and cries on her shoulder. 

"I love you," she tells her for the first time, regretting not having said it more often.

"I love you too," Daenerys replies, returning the gesture. 

**Gendry**.

In the following days he has eyes set on Meera, a strange sensation in his body alerting him. It was not easy for anyone, a feeling of uneasiness and sadness that seemed not to want to get rid of the spirit of those who have the fortune (or misfortune) to wake up again in a world that has given them nothing but pain and war. He knows this because he has lived with that burden for so long that now that it seems to be coming to an end, he did not think he was worthy of a life without it. 

The same question resides in those dark eyes of her and that worried him. _What now?_ It is not over for her, Gendry knows. 

Although he catches a glimpse of Daenerys landing, it's not until Meera and Arianne move closer to her that he walks over there, arriving just in time to hear their strange exchange that notwithstanding it's enough for Gendry to grow wary. 

"Daenerys, where is Jon?" he asked her, bereft of any formality. 

She startles when she hears his voice. Daenerys looks at Gendry, and he recognises the guilt in her gaze, which makes him even more suspicious. _What have you done?_ He wonders.

"I left him in Summerhall," she finally admits. 

Gendry shakes his head in confusion. 

"What? How? Why?" he asks, astonished. 

Daenerys moves away from Arianne in his direction but he feels himself stiffen and backing off. She understands. 

"He'll be back when it's over," she said. 

"When it's over? What are you talking about?"

"She will not return, Gendry," Meera cuts in. 

_No_. Not now. Not Jon. If he allowed this to happen, everything that would come after it would be his fault too. He has seen Jon's suffering translate into fire and blood. Why was she doing this now?

"That's not possible," he opposes vehemently. He steps forward. "You will destroy him! What you are doing with Jon...I cannot stand it. This is the bane of his soul!"

"He will understand," Daenerys insists. Behind her, Arianne crumbles. "He will understand. He has to."

"How? You are abandoning him! And for what? Because you feel sorry for yourself?"

"Because it is as it is. We cannot change it!" She screams in return, prompting him to step back from her. "Do you think I want this?" she says with a lower voice, almost a whisper. "We have-" she is about to say something but then she stops midsentence.

As she doesn't speak and remains still, breathing in, breathing out, he makes another attempt to stop this madness. 

He approaches with less hostility and speaks sincerely. 

"Go away," he tells her. "Go for him and both of you...just go away."

He knew she was not going to listen to him. In all the years they've shared history, Daenerys almost never turned to his advice. In a way, he always just watched and followed her lead, after all, she had been the one to burden him with a name he hadn't asked for. 

The same excuse slips past her lips.

"You are good man, Gendry," she says, putting one hand on his cheek. He still doesn't understand her reasons, but it was too late to fight the decision she has already made.

Daenerys's eyes move beyond him where soldiers and people who inhabited the island have approached. She advances to walk a few steps past Arianne, Meera, and him.

"Men and women," she starts speaking. "Soldier and peasant. Perhaps the night was long, dark, and full of terrors but nothing is eternal in the Realm of Men, except your resilience." Gendry saw her straighten up. "You have fought bravely, you have endured the war of ice and fire. If anything, I'm proud to be called your Queen. Your journey had been tiresome and unkind but your resolution remained unbroken. We find our true friends on the battlefield and my one and true desire is for you to embrace what you've built along the way, with the men and women who you fought beside with. Embrace this fellowship now and always and you will plant the seeds for a brighter, new, and better world for yourself and for the ones to come."

He searched for the devastated, exhausted, and confused faces that nevertheless listened attentively.

"Yours is the wheel," she keeps on with her speech, "And the decision to keep it rolling or breaking it is in your hands." From whence he is, he cannot glimpse at her face but he can feel the force with which she communicates. "Will you break the wheel?" she screams at them. " _Westeros, will you break the wheel?_ " 

Shouts of " _Aye_!". The soldiers take their weapons and lift them in the air with their fists. Soon the roar of the dragons joins them, stirring up the clamor of those who cheerfully respond to her final words. 


	3. The Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grey Worm POV while he ~babysits~ Daejon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sad draft because why not

**III**.

 **Naath**. 

**Grey Worm**.

Although winter had settled, the butterflies are not gone. These ones are different, he notes. Their wings seem made of crystals - translucent and almost imperceptible. It made him wonder if Missandei knew about them, though probably not, since she never mentioned them. The memory of the girl who was dragged out of her home perished to make room for the resilient and intelligent woman he loved so much that couldn't stop thinking about her even after so many years.

"Mamamama," soft babbling gets him out of his thoughts. "Mamama," the prince repeats, this time with a pout and some tears leaking from his big, dark eyes. Grey Worm looks down and Daejon looks up to meet his eyes. It is strange how someone so small can say so much just with a glance, he thinks.

A strong purr accompanied by a hot breath draws near, not threatening enough to scare Grey Worm away. The dun coloured dragon whose name is Daarion seems to understand what the little dragon prince is feeling. They both miss the mother, their _Mhysa_. Her departure continues to pass him by as a heavy defeat. 

Wandei can't see him like that, it makes her weep. It is a natural reaction before child's pain, he knows but having seen and done enough horrors, he cannot be affected. Not that way, at least. So he explains with a look to Prince Daejon that he cannot give him what he wants the most - he cannot give him his mother. And after seeing how vain his cry is, the baby let it go and fixes his eyes on something else.

 _Probably Missandei would have known what to tell you_ , he broods over the notion. _Maybe she would have taught you to forget without losing yourself and still be a kind soul_. 


	4. Final Stage of Chaos

**Red Keep, King's Landing**.

Bare feet, R’hllor walks through the ramifications that covered the floor of the ancient Throne Room. Outside, a snowstorm was brewing, and gray clouds prevented sunlight from filtering in. It was all dark and cold. The ice that he has struggled so hard to tame.

The throaty screech of the astray son nearly defeated on the ground, writhing in the branches as his power waned. Around him, the enchantments that held him a prisoner of the reality of the Realm of men - the death of magic and everything it created, opened and broke.

"You have lost. It is over. Surrender, my son. Take my hand and accept that you cannot do more against your own destruction."

The Raven raises its whitish eyes that reviled anger.

"She will come," he insists.

"She won," R’hllor reminds him, "I brought her back after your chaos, and when she faced it again, she chose her duty. She overcame your deception and manipulation."

The Raven refused to believe the words of the other god. The cycle could not be broken. The game could not be won.

"There is one last..." the falling god whispered, looking back into his consciousness, where stored everything that was, is and could be. "There is one last rope to pull."

 _Why don't you let me go, father_ , he asked himself, always an unbeliever of his truth. Everything had a purpose for R’hllor. Nothing ever escaped his divine will.

Outside the fortress that was no longer, beyond the ruins of a city long-gone, individuals dressed in red cloaks began to surround the walls that had fallen. It was the beginning of the end. 


	5. Broken

**Meera.**

Her boat strays to a shoreline where she knows there are the caves. She never invited Gendry with her but he aboard the vessel nonetheless and now was looking at her with that suspicious, earnest expression. 

"This is not where we're suppose to be," he points out, very obviously. "Meera, what are you going to do?" 

"What are _you_ doing, Gendry?" she snaps with sudden exasperation. "Why are you even here? Your presence is not going to make me go back my way. I have to finish what we started."

"We?"

"Jojen and I. We make him this. We make Bran this." 

"Do you mean the Raven? He is not Bran!"

"I know. But his memory is there. His essence is there. And I'm going to release him. In some way or another, I'm going to do it."

And with that, she hopes to free herself from the pain and the burden of knowing herself used by that creature.

 _I made you, and I will destroy you_.

She trudges off to the shore after leaving the boat, Gendry following her close behind. On her back, Meera carries the spear that he had honed for that exact purpose she unveiled. The blade that gleamed at the tip of the spear was the same one with which she gave merciful death to her brother Jojen.

"Meera, wait!" Gendry shout out but she ignored him until he grabbed her arm.

"Let go off of me!" 

He, however, takes her by the forearms and shook her.

"Look at me!" he pleads, "Daenerys is already on a suicide mission to stop him. Why do you persist in doing this? What is the purpose?"

"Daenerys can't destroy him," she let out a sob, feeling herself cornered. "She only comes to fulfill her mission with R'hllor. I am not bound by any promise. I am not boud by any god."

"You are bound by your own pain, don't you see it? Do not let this pain consume you, you are only going to give him another victory to his amusement."

She pulls herself away from him with a wince.

"Look who's saying it," she scoffs cruelly. Rather motivated by an alien and invasive feeling that she had been afraid to recognize. "How many years have passed and you still see the ghost of Arya Stark? You are all a son of your father in that sense."

Stunned, he is left with no words. What he is supposed to say? For the limited time they had known each other, it had still been much more than he had shared with Arya. 

"You still don't realize but she is all that you are - your pain is all that you are."

As she is Jojen. As she is Hodor. As she is Bran.

She blinks and tears run down her cheeks. She looks into the caves where darkness swallows light and wonders what it would be living without pain.

"Very well," Gendry says after a moment. Meera closes her eyes, expecting he will leave. Instead, he walks and stands beside her. "Show me the path."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a rare pairing I have done here and was not even planned in my first outline. I suppose the point is to portray how pain can make people stagnate in the same mental state for years, not letting them move forward.
> 
> Meera's character, like all women at the end of the show, is used as a disposable handkerchief and thrown into the trash can to deal with the trauma herself.
> 
> Gendry becomes emotionally dependent on Arya because they shared a lifetime trauma  
> and becausd of the promise she made of be his family that finally she foregoes.
> 
> They both deserved better and in another universe I would have paired them with their canonical pairings (semi in the case of Meera and Bran).


	6. The First and The Last

**Kinvara**

She has never been one of listening to other people's conversations but this time it is inevitable to snatch pieces of the conversation between the ship's captain and Daenerys.

"Barristal is with him, protecting him," the queen says, "You'll make good in not approaching unless he needs help. The wound I inflicted upon him is not great-"

The woman that goes by the name Yara scoffs.

"Had you stuck a larger knife and made a mortal wound still hadn't made half the damage," she comments ever so lightly. Still, Kinvara can sense some sadness in her tone. "You say you do this to save us. To save us all and end...whatever the fuck is there. Yet I don't see how killing yourself will make Jon Snow spare the living life of this world."

Silence. Kinvara knows what the queen is pondering.

"Because he has a reason now," she replies.

Yara Greyjoy snorted. 

"He will kill us all," she insisted. 

The conversation ends and she hears footsteps walk away and others approach. It doesn't take her to turn around to know that Daenerys Stormborn is behind her.

"Will he?"

Kinvara smiles at the young queen's questioning. Not because she found the question naive but because Daenerys cannot help but care about this world that has never cared for her. 

"Are you doubting yourself?" Kinvara returns, turning to face her. She finds her in a defeated and tired stance. "Since the day we bring you back here you have only had one certainty for you: you will return to the Threshold."

Daenerys squints at her.

"You are the first, I am the last. How many lives between us have paid the price of their amusement?"

All traces of lightness are erased from the face of the red priestess and she begins to feel that burning again in her chest, as real as the day she lost everything. She was so close to getting it all back that dread disturbed her usual calm.

"Beware the temptation, Daenerys Stormborn," she warned, "Your purpose, and all our purposes, are almost done."


	7. Westeros Was Never Home.

**Daenerys**

**Ruins of King's Landing**.

She takes a deep breath as she gazes at King’s Landing - its ruins. Ruins that refused to perish just like her. The remains of something that no longer existed, as it had not existed for so long.

Here it was all over for them - for her family. This is where Missandei met her end and then Daenerys herself. This is where now once again she came to meet insistent death, an old enemy that had haunted her ever since she was in her mother's womb.

She clenches her jaw, helplessness. If there is something that this place has never given her, it is the happiness of returning home that she had so long hoped to feel. All those dreams during her childhood and tender youth were nothing but a sham, King's Landing was no home, Westeros was no home...this world was no home for her. 

_Daejon_. _My love, my life_. 

_Jon. My home_. 

At the realization of what she is doing, of everything she is renouncing to, Daenerys feels anger and feels fear. 

_Fuck the gods. Old and New. Fuck their purposes_. 

She does not come to satisfy their whims. She vaunts in the knowledge she will not bend her will and belief to them, to those who have manipulated her and battered as much or more than all those people who had hurt her. 

I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, she thinks. I answer to neither gods nor men.


	8. The Last War Of The Queen I

**Daenerys**

Daenerys unsheathes a _warrior's heart_. It is the name that finally she gives to the sword. She has told a couple of people, no one relevant, for the simple fact that someone will have to tell Jon when he finds her. _When he finds me_.

She climbs down the hill where she was looking at King’s Landing. Around the walls are hundreds of red priests and the guard of the Fiery Hands with their spears destroying what was left of those gigantic walls. Jorion, Greywing, and Missanderys hover above the armies. Their image for some reason, makes her look back at the past, maybe this is how it would have been the first time with her three children.

 _No_. She pulls away from those thoughts. _It was never meant to be_.

The dragons insist on crossing that invisible barrier, but they squeal in frustration when they find the passage blocked.

"I don't understand," Daenerys says to Kinvara, "Why is it still there?"

"Because he still hasn't surrendered," the priestess answers. “This duel does not belong to your dragons. It never has been. Now that you are here, it is time to pay off your debt to the old gods. ”

She is startled a little when Kinvara mentions this.

"What do you mean?"

"One sacrifice: a life and an oath."

She moves a few steps back with a start.

"How do I make this if I am dead?" Daenerys asks. 

Kinvara frowns with that characteristic somber attitude.

"It was always supposed to be this way."

Daenerys scoffs. 

"Your grace," someone calls behind her. It's Theo Wull. "We are only awaiting your order to enter the city. And we want to know where is King Jon." 

Her heart aches at the mention of her husband. But the pain does not make her forget for a moment the words of Kinvara.

"When the time is right, he will come. Meanwhile, no one enters the city," she declares, walking away from the priestess, heading for the ranks.

"But if we are not going to enter-"

"Lord Theo. Follow the order. Don't question it."

The Northman nods and walks toward his men. Ironically, she thinks the north is not that difficult to command, after all. This was the second war she leads them to.

Daenerys walks past the ranks on her own to reach the red priests, her small figure in contrast to the large army behind her and the three dancing dragons above in the sky. 


	9. Remember The Pain

**Meera**.

"Very well," Gendry says when they find themselves face to face with an obstacle they were not expecting. "How are we supposed to cross this?" 

The tunnels are full of roots and branches that spread from the ground, along the walls, and even above. It is almost like the cave beyond the wall. 

Meera steps forward carefully. As long as her bare hand does not touch any of the branches, there will be no way for Bra-the Raven, to notice her presence. 

"It's almost a physical manifestation of himself. He can't be too long without them," she explains, crossing the thick limbs. "No god can appear in this world without suffering consequences."

"Is there more than one?" he asks again, stunned.

Meera observes that the more they advance, the less light reaches them. They will be blind if they continue.

"Yes," she replies, looking back. "There are too many. And there are also other worlds."

When they reach the place where the light becomes less and less present, she hears Gendry shivering with cold.

 _You shouldn't be here_ , she wants to tell him. She thinks about it while barely seeing him in the shadows trying to follow her. He was pure strength and little agility. 

"These worlds you speak of," he breaks the silence again, getting closer to her, "Have you seen them?"

And she wishes she hadn't, because now she will always feel hopeless.

Meera nods softly, though she doesn't expect him to see her doing it. 

"Nothing better," she whispers, when he's so close she feels his breath close to her neck. She closes her eyes and tries to imagine it as she feels his arm around her and hovering over her belly. She turns her face towards his, hardly a fragile silhouette indicates that it is him. "I've seen things I can't explain. I've seen how no matter what we do, wars will always be a constant. This world cannot be saved."

 _But it can be changed_ , the voice in her head tells her. _It needs to be changed_.

She returns to that foggy place. The North? Beyond the wall? She does not know exactly. In front of her is Bran. Is Jojen. 

She tries her best to remember their faces but it becomes difficult.

_NO!_

_She fights against oblivion_.

"Meera," one of them calls, doesn't know which one because she can't remember their voices. She recalls the words but no longer to which voice they correspond. "Meera," again.

 _Gendry_. She remembers Gendry. It feels real because he is as real as she is. More real than all the time that has transpired since the time she left Winterfell with the uncertainty of what she had done. 

_NO!_

_I don't want to forget_.

"How did you do it?" she asks out loud, placing her hand on his arms and throwing her head back against his chest. "How did you not forget Arya Stark?"

She feels him flinch. 

"To be honest, I don't remember her anymore. I just remember the pain."

Meera opens her eyes suddenly. He is doing it again. Not The Raven, she knows. _R'hllor_.

"We have to hurry," she says, getting off of his embrace, "We have to get there before Daenerys."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have every intention of ending this TODAY. HAHA.


	10. The Last War Of The Queen II

**Daenerys**.

"I have waited for this moment for thousands of years," Kinvara announces out loud just as Daenerys stands in front of the gates of King's Landing. They are not the same ones that she destroyed the first time she was there. "The one that was promised...the one that was promised to us has come here today to fulfill her purpose, and the plan of our Lord for this world."

She cocks her head a little as she hears her speak.

"Darkness has inhabited the realm of men for far too long. Saviors have come and gone, some of them good and some of them that faltered with the winds. Neither of them had faith. Not until Daenerys Targaryen." 

She takes a deep breath to suppress the desire to contradict her. Every word that came out of her mouth was just another reason not to want to.

"Today is the end, and it is the beginning. We always knew it would happen, and those who have remained will be rewarded." Silence. Daenerys hears voices that whisper louder and louder, turning into an annoying noise. She does not know if they are the priests, or if they are the soldiers. She closes her eyes and just waits for it to end. "Daenerys, are you ready?" 

She opens her eyes and looks at Kinvara, who already has a dragonglass dagger in her hand. She looks at the hateful object filled with anger. Her breathing fast and her jaw clenched.

One sacrifice: a life and an oath. 

An oath of life for life. Life for life. Only death can pay for life. 

"This step is exceptional, you know that?" Kinvara asks her, dangerously close, taking her arm as if he would patronizingly explain what they both know she is going to do. "It could have been done differently, but your weak heart could not withstand this test."

Daenerys lets out a scoff, looking over at the army. 

This time it is Daenerys who takes the priestess's arm tightly, speaking in sharp words near her ear.

"Fuck me up again, Kinvara, and I swear to you that I will make your Lord's purpose a hell for all of yours." She does not wait to browbeat the priestess with her warning. Both women, Nissa Nissa and her last kindred look each other eye to eye. 

For Kinvara, it was the sacrifice of her son. For Daenerys the sacrifice of thousands of innocent lives. Both women have pursued fate without question, but only one of them was willing to never again let it determine the course of her actions. So it is Daenerys who forces the priestess into an embrace, with a careful movement of her hand guiding the dagger to the spot where her armor is weakest. 

The dagger takes away the life that had been loaned to her, an extension of Daejeon's life.

 _It should never have been_ , Kinvara said, mocking the weakness of her heart. And yet Daenerys would do it over and over again if she had a choice.

 _I would choose Jon over and over again_ , she tells herself as she bleeds the life out of her and the chaos is released around her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I never understood at the beginning of this story why some words were written differently, but it turns out that the keyboard of my cell phone was in British English and the one of my laptop in American English LOL, at the end I decided to leave The Threshold in British English. Thought not here since this is just a draft I will edit later.


	11. The Loose End.

**Gendry**.

The tunnels lead them to a chamber that appears to be just more ruins. He has come to think that Storm's End Fortress was gloomy and putrid but this place was straightforwardly a grave. Amid the rubble and dead nature, he is not surprised to glimpse human bones scattered here and there. He cannot believe that this place once housed kings. 

"Were you ever here?" Meera asks him.

"At the very beginning," he replies, "when everything seemed normal. When Bran-" he also stops at the mention. Who were they really responding to in all that time? "A few times. Not long enough to know where each place is."

Meera nods.

"I think Jon mentioned that he ambushed them in the throne room."

 _Them_. Gendry hesitates for a moment but finally accepts it. It happened. Nothing will change it.

"If it's too much for you, I underst-" she says, but he doesn't let her finish, shortening the distance that separates them and cradling her face.

"I'm not going back without you. We're in this together."

Meera blinks, a hint of insecurity and doubt passing through her dark eyes.

"Okay," she says, suddenly light in his grip. "There is something Jon and Daenerys never understood from the prophecy and the game. When I found out, it was too late for them to do anything. The only way to end the Raven is through his own game. R'hllor has made Daenerys believe that the way to do it is by beating him but this is not true." Meera pulls away to take the spear from her back and show it to him. "With this dagger, I ended Jojen's life. All of us were pawns in his game and there is always a reason why he does what he does. For a long time, I thought there was a mistake: me. Why did you let me live? Everyone on that journey had to die. Including Bran. Was I just his puppet all along?"

He listens carefully, trying to make sense of the things she is confiding to him. The truth is that it was still difficult for him to understand what this game was about. All Gendry had experienced in the past few years was the damage to it.

"I'm the loose end he purposely left behind," Meera reveals, " _One last rope to pull_."


	12. Young Hearts

**Dewyn**.

The whispers in his head don't leave him alone. Only for small moments can he concentrate enough to be himself. He tries to remember it - the life before all this, but he does not find those memories. He finds many others but not his. As if several minds are living within his own.

 _You need to focus on something_ , he chides himself. Then he looks at the horizon, at that thin line where the sun dives in the water and where the sky seems endless. 

_Tormund_ , he thinks. _Mayhaps one day I will remember his stories and everything will be back to normal_. A giant. Something like that.

 _Val_. He associates his memory with _beauty_ and _care_.

 _Jon_. He remembers the north. _Hunting_. _Wolf_.

But they are all gone.

He does not remember where they are or if he will ever see them again. He feels utterly alone and bereaved and for the first time, he allows himself to admit that feeling of his own.

A movement at his side startles him. It is like this every time she appears with a pot of food. It is the only reason why he has not starved. Not that he cares if it happens. 

_Arianne_ , he knows. _Sun_. _Warmth_. _Love_.

He cannot take the memories. They are not within his reach. But with it her, he can feel that they must be there, somewhere.

He just needs to focus.

**Arianne**.

This is the first time he makes a movement when she gets close after several days of staying enclosed in his own mind. She wants to ask him how he is, how does he feel, if something hurts him and if she can do something to make him feel better, but every time she tries, something she cannot describe holds her back.

When they were still in the settlement, she had tried to count the days, however now she has only let the days go by.

 _Someone else will care about that_ , she thinks.

Away from whatever is happening right now at King's Landing, all Arianne can do is sit and wait. 

That's why she approaches Dewyn and sits next to him. _They could be like this for a long time_ , she thinks.

At some point, before the sun finishes setting, she watches him take a fill of sand in his hands and let it fall between his fingers.

She giggles.

"So you like the sand now?" she asks, without waiting for a response from him.

There's silence first. He frowns and blinks in confusion.

"No," he replies, taking her aback, "It's horrible. But I like the heat of the sun on my skin and having fresh water to clean my face the wind lifts the sand."

Arianne has to look away to hide the tears that fall down her cheeks. _He has remembered it_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My point with these two characters was always to create a kind of mini Jon and mini Daenerys. I don't know if I got it. I mean, the whole point of two opposites is there. And I think this is not going to end in a happy ever after for them. Not because they are going to die (they will not) but because sometimes the opposites simply cannot complement each other.
> 
> Well, the next four segments are the ones that will make you cry (maybe)
> 
> Sorry if it's taking me so long but reading what happened with Naya Rivera has put me in a very low mood.


	13. The Last War Of The Queen III

**Daenerys**.

If she's supposed to feel something, she doesn't. When Daenerys opens her eyes, all she sees is a white sky, as white as the day she first left this world. She would have preferred a thousand daggers in the back rather than this numbness. A life that is not living.

This makes her realize how dead she had been all these years. Before Jon. 

_You have given more than you will admit, Jon Snow_. 

"Raise, Daenerys Stormborn."

She remembers those words - the words with which Kinvara had insistently called her the first time.

 _It was worth it?_ She asks herself.

However, before she can finish pondering it, Jorian's shriek startles her and in a quick motion, Daenerys gets up. 

The soldiers of The Fiery Hand have pointed their blazing spears in the towards the army. Dany can hardly glimpse that the generals are in a position to attack. 

"What are you doing?" she shouts at them, "Those are my men, lower your spears!"

"No one is going to meddle with the Lord of Light purpose," a priest hissed.

"Your Grace," Theo Wull claimed from the distance, "Shout the order and we will finish off these zealots."

"You have not come here to defend me," she says, taking a few steps forward and pushing the flaming flame away from the spears of the soldiers of the temple of R'hllor. The army men shuddered at this gesture and Dany remembered how impressive it could be.

She looks at her hand. Her fire has returned.

"Your Grace, it is not for disobeying your orders. But King Jon-"

"King Jon is not here!" Daenerys screams. Saddened. Infuriated. "I am your queen and you will do what I command you. I am not asking you to risk your life to save mine or to honor me. I ask you to defend Westeros because it is your home and no one but you should defend it." She turns and addresses those who will understand High Valyrian. " _No harm will befall these men, servants of the Lord of Light. For the night is dark and full of terrors, and I am the only one with the flame to defeat it_." Her eyes meet Kinvara's. " _Defy me and I will see to it this endeavor comes down crashing. Do you hear me?_ "

Kinvara bows her head in acknowledgment.

"Very well," Dany says, tightening her grip on Warrior's Heart pommel. She turns around one last time to look at their faces. Faces of people she hardly knows. "Defend your home!" she shouts, before walking towards the city, from where the ruins begin to shake.

They are not wights or faceless men.

It is the Raven itself.

**Meera**.

"What is happening?"

The structure of the keep begins to shake. The roots and branches surrounding them twist as a screech of pain rumble through the hallways. Meera draws Gendry towards her just as one of the roots spread out with a quick movement.

"Daenerys is within the city," she answers his question, breathing heavily.

Gendry is also startled.

"Why didn't you tell her? Why don't you tell Daenerys what's going on?"

Meera takes a deep breath. The smell of rot permeates the senses.

"No with Kinvara there. She would never allow it. She has been waiting for this moment since the beginning of all."

They kept going, avoiding touching the branches writhing like worms, curling and contracting on the walls and ceiling.

"Are you afraid of the red priestess?" Gendry asked her. None of them knows if they are going in the right direction. Meera is guided by the movements of the branches.

"I fear what she might do if something gets in her path," she replies.

"Her path?"

To be a final situation, Gendry seems determined to learn as much as he can about the mess they are in. She cannot help but smile and hurt at the notion of losing him too. 

"She is Nissa Nissa," she reveals. 

Gendry scoffs. He cannot believe her.

"Like the...woman of the legend of Azor Ahai?"

"Like the woman who has lived too long to allow something to come between her and her destiny."

**Daenerys**

She deflects with Warrior's Heart the sudden appearance of one of those branches. The only thing she can do is light the sword with her own fire and scare off the advance of them towards her. 

Dany looks back. Her goal is Red Keep. But she cannot leave the army behind her without a command. Especially because she won't be coming back. 

_Jorion_.

Her loyal protector and his siblings are on the loose over the sky, trying to reach her unsuccessfully. Dany doesn't understand what keeps them away.

She frowns.

_This duel does not belong to your dragons. It never has been._

Dany lets out a defeated sigh. _I should have known_ , she thinks. _R'hllor is you. You have my dragons out of the game. You know they will do everything possible to save me_.

She is tired of this play. The longer she is in it, the more she want to get away. 

With this in mind, Daenerys lifts Warrior's Heart. Before the astonished crowd, the sword sets on fire. 

"Raise your sword!" she shouts at them, all of them gathered at the outskirts of the city. "This enemy has no form. Stop it from moving forward! Protect the Realm from it!"

They raise their swords but remain in a state of ambivalence. For Daenerys it is enough that they abide by her order.

She had never attempted to light swords from afar, although she knows she is capable of doing so. Nor does she remember the words - she is not requiring to R'hllor.

 _Very well_. She swallow hard and close her eyes.

 _Red_.

 _Fire_.

 _Blood_.

Nothing.

_Red._

_Fire._

_Blood_.

Nothing happens and some of them start mumbling in confusion. 

_Jon,_ she thinks _._

_Daejon._

_Jon and Daejon._

_Faeith. Drogon. Rhaegal. Viserion._

_Jorah. Missandei. Barristan. Daario._

_My losses are not in vain_. 

A loud cry of surprise removes her from the trance and she opens her eyes in fright. Then more come. Sounds of flames flapping in the cold air. The swords of all the men and women of that army have been lit.

Daenerys turns around and observes the last path she will ever traverse. One last war and there will be no more wars. For some reason, that thought brings her calm.


	14. A Game Of Thrones, A Game Of Gods.

**The Raven**.

Wrathful, the god observes that chaos is used against him. Humans, so insignificant and destructive, have dared to rise up against him. This world has been nothing but a bad dream. They believe they can escape chaos but it will never be possible, even when he is no longer among them to entertain himself with their misery.

And to the father of creation, to the father of everything, they are going to sing songs of veneration and devotion. Believing that this way they will win the favor.

Oh but R'hllor is the worst of all. When even knowing the damage allows it to happen, and then calms your crying. The worst of manipulations.

 _There is one last rope to pull_ , the Raven scoffs. _The woman who was just a naive girl when I used her as my pawn is coming back to me. Her foolishness blinds her. Her need to ease the pain that I have put into her_.

R'hllor doesn't flinch. Eyes fixed on the great doors that will soon open announcing the arrival of the warrior of fire. The mother of dragons. The breaker of chains. Queen of the ashes. 

_There is a way to stop her_ , the Raven insists. _There are many ways to start again_.

R'hllor turns around.

_You have not understood. It needs to be finished._

_Why?_

_Because I say it._

_So why did you start the game?_

He does not answer.

The Raven bursts out with laughter, squeals with amusement and pain as he feels at each end as the blazing blades cut through the rest of him. The memories he has collected.

 _I have known so much_ , he reflects. _Oh but this knowledge does not come without its intentions. Some of them so difficult to resist._

The Stark boy was his great mistake because a naive and incorruptible heart has hardly been of good use to him.

 _Just a boy who wanted to walk again_.

The dragonseed was a vessel for triumph, only having had a shield at the time that would have allowed him to leave that cave.

But there is still a rope to pull.

 _It won't_ , R'hllor warns.


	15. Path To Peace

**Daenerys**.

The clashing of swords, the bloodshed, and the fire is left behind. Reality seems too far away, as she struggles forward. Always forward, without looking back. Her sight becomes blurred. She is holding on to something even though she doesn't quite know what it is. She has lost any ability to make sense of what around her.

She wonders if she's still alive or if she's dying. _It is not possible_ , she says to herself. _I can't die yet_.

She looks down at her hand, it's wet. She does not feel cold, heat, or pain. But in her hand there is blood. Blood from a wound in her belly.

 _The scars_. They are bleeding.

She raises the sleeve of her tunic and notices that it is also wet.

Daenerys loses strength and falls to the ground. 

Lying on the cold ground, again. _What are you doing R'hllor?_ She crossed King's Landing to get here, resisting The Raven's counterattack and even intimidating him enough. _What good am I if I can't get up?_

She thinks she sees strands of silver hair wavering in front of her eyes. Violet eyes that look at her with affection.

 _Mother_ , she calls her though she doesn't know if it's Rhaella. 

_Dany_ , a voice whispers. 

_Viserys_.

He does not say it with that grumpy and malicious tone but with the softness and affection that he once had for her.

 _Little sister_.

This one she doesn't recognize for she has not heard it before. However, it cannot be other than Rhaegal.

 _I'm already dead? No_ , she responds to herself. _When I am, I'll be on the Threshold_.

 _Your grace_.

"Missandei," Daenerys cries upon hearing her soft, melodious voice. She has never forgotten her voice although now it is difficult to imagine her face. She remembers her beautiful, happy, and gentle.

 _Khaleesi_.

 _Jorah, my loyal knight and protector_. 

"Jorah," she sobs. 

It is too much pain.

 _Come on, Dany, up_.

Daario. Her friend and confidant throughout all these years. 

"I'm sorry," she says, "I'm sorry for not protecting you."

No one else deserves to die for it. She musters the forces from wherever she can and she decides that she has to finish what she has come to do.

She is not going to stop the game. She is going to destroy the game.

This long stairs become endless. The snow makes her slip and she has to get up again, not looking back. If she does, she's lost. She walks the same path as the first time. It is not so difficult, she recognizes it immediately when she sets foot inside the fortress of her family again. Everything is almost the same as she has left it, there was never enough time to repair the damage.

Finally the destroyed and ruined corridors direct her to the throne room. She opens the great doors and with Warrior's Heart she makes the light.

She advances and the branches are frightened in her path, so she raises the sword to allow the ceiling light to come on. _But there's no ceiling_ , she realizes.

"You've come."

She is tired. So tired she cannot provide an answer and just sits on the steps. 

"So many sacrifices, Daenerys Targaryen. And all for what? To finish where you did it the first time?"

Dany thrusts Warrior's Heart to lean on.

"Shall we begin?"


	16. The End Of The Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Thus the first stories were created, in their hands. Some are better than others, some are bigger than others but they must always respect the rules. They do not intervene, except when they use warriors like you. Truth should never be used as an element of chaos. And the most important, win or die. Never both at the same time, as it happened to you."

**R'hllor**.

Temptation has never even been an option to the God of creation. It is a human peculiarity, a part of their nature that makes them imperfect and throws them into the courses of their destinies. Everything is said and done. It only remains to come together with it.

"You will not do what you are about to do," the god warns his servant, the first flame.

" _They_ will intervene," she replies sharply. 

The red priestess's obliging demeanor crumbles at the threat of an unexpected twist in the plans. 

"They are not like us," R'hllor remarks, "Is your faith faltering now, Nissa Nissa?"

She curtsies slightly and backs away.

" _Never_ ," she answers. 

Daenerys is sitting on the front steps. The sword that she has named in honor of her last protector helps her to hold herself upright. She is weakened. No body can resist so many hardships.

She is irreversibly dying.

The creature she faces is not what she has expected. In her mind, R'hllor feels hesitation and doubt. 

"You are dying," finally the Lord of Light as they call him, says, "You are defeated. Your pawns have perished, or have they abandoned your cause," Masked, he steps forward and climbs down the steps, passing by tge warrior of fire to his son who lies twisted among branches and roots. Raven is nothing but a formless creature. His human mask melts. The essence of the Stark boy begins to fade. "Take my hand, my son. I beg you."

His rebellion does not subside but this does not surprise R'hllor.

Clearly it never will.

"You don't see it, right?" Raven asks. 

"See what?" Daenerys responds. 

She stands up, still with the help of her sword. Her body trembles and she doesn't feel like she's dying but from the dizziness of her fragile mind. There is a space - an entrance - that Raven decides to take advantage of.

"All of this is because R'hllor deems it. He preaches now that it will end. **But nothing ends, it's just how all starts**."

She is not so easy to manipulate. Not anymore. Her faith had always resided in her own person.

"I am no pawn of R'hllor. I do this because you asked for it. With your damage. With your whims, with your chaos."

"Naivety is what will kill you, not your sense of justice. You know that, Daenerys?"

"So let it be," she states, walking towards where is Raven, raising the Valyrian Steel sword in advance.

Without a guardian, without a warrior, this time it's finally time for fire to win. 

_It must end, everything must end_.

A war cry breaks out, and R'hllor closes his eyes.

**Meera**. 

_There's one more rope to pull_.

When saying it, Bran - not Bran, but they perceive like him, laughs while writhing on the ground.

Meera and Gendry have arrived moments before Daenerys can thrust her sword into Raven. At the exact moment, it was supposed to happen, she has thrown the spear in his direction and killed the creature, which has transformed into a bright light that causes her and Gendry to drop to the ground and cover their eyes to avoid burning.

 _I did it_.

With him, the images in her head are also gone. And not only this but also the pain.

Bran nods and leaves.

Jojen, Hodor, Summer. They are all gone. 

**Gendry**.

"What are you doing here? You should not be here!" Daenerys shouts at them from the distance. 

Gendry holds Meera's body close to him. She is unconscious, but he can feel her breathing. He has no way of checking what's going on around him. 

After Meera killed the creature they called the Raven, he lunged for her and threw them to the ground knowing a counterattack would come. However, what was happening in that instant went beyond that. It felt like being bathed in dragon fire.

"Take her away from here!" Daenerys screamed close to Gendry's ear. He made an attempt to open his eyes but couldn't. It hurt him immensely. "Go, now!" She repeated, helping him lift Meera into his arms and guide him back into the hallway, out of the throne room it had been so hard to find.

"Do not listen to him," Meera mumbles, "Do not listen to _him."_

Daenerys stops them, not for long.

"What do you mean, Meera?" 

"It will be no end."

He can feel her faltering until she finally throws them out of the room, into the hallway. After this, the doors close.

**Daenerys**.

Everything has happened so fast that she cannot understand it. She almost did it - to comply with R’hllor's request to end the Raven's existence, and yet Meera Reed, who appeared out of nowhere, has driven a spear into the core of the Raven and stripped him of his mask.

The minds and memories he had stolen were gone, and with it, everything that he was.

"What is happening? _What did you do?_ " Daenerys asks R'hllor. 

The remains of his creation continue to bathe the room. A fluorescent light like the one she saw in the ice castle, just before Brynden appeared to guide her.

"He has played fair," the god answers, "He has played fair and finished the game, on his own."

"The game," Daenerys repeats, "Very well. What's next?"

Quaithe's dark eyes, looking at the sky that has been exposed after the destruction of her son, now set on Daenerys.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. It's wrong."

Daenerys falls to the ground too weak to continue standing.

"A simple pawn. It's all it took," Quaithe keeps talking, "Perhaps, after all, I should have intervened. I thought that a pawn could not against a warrior-"

"Please finish it now. Tell me what I have to do to finish it," she feels the metallic taste in her mouth again. Dany begins to spit blood out of her mouth.

"I have to start it again. Yes, that's it. **This time it will work**."

 _This time?_ The words resound in her mind. 

_This happened or happens when they play the first time. R’hllor tells his children to create stories because it’s the way humans live_.

 _For him, time is the flutter of a hummingbird_.

But nothing ends, it's just how all starts.

 _Oh gods_ , Daenerys curses at the realization. The only player is him. This story belongs to him.

This will never end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The explanation that I know you need hehe:
> 
> In the opening scene, R'hllor and Kinvara are aware of the presence of Gendry and Meera but cannot intervene. Daenerys must win cleanly and without intervention from their part.
> 
> Daenerys prepares to fulfill the purpose that has been entrusted to her. Kill the Raven. 
> 
> Seeming defeated, Raven gives Daenerys one last hint to finally realize that R'hllor is really the one who designs everything. There is no real freedom because he is the owner and creator of the game.
> 
> When she is about to kill him, Meera Reed appears and finishes him off instead. She has been a loose pawn that the Raven left behind on purpose knowing that he could resort to her in case R'hllor cornered him. 
> 
> Meera achieves her goal of liberating the mind of Bran as well. I added Jojen, Hodor and Summer in her thoughts because it's just her own mind thinking in them. 
> 
> R'hllor loses again on his own terms. 
> 
> Dissatisfied with the result, believing to be able to play again he seems to want to start it all again. Bloodraven had mentioned to Daenerys that time is imperceptible to him. R'hllor is just a capricious divinity.


	17. Neither Gods Nor Men

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybeeeee if I find the words, I'll write this in an omniscient third person for the final version. But I'm lazy AF so who knows.

**Daenerys**.

"Enough. Don't do it," Daenerys pleads with her last remaining strength. "You told me I had to break the wheel."

"And you will. Only not here and now," R'hllor replies, walking away absently while muttering words that Daenerys doesn't understand. It is not Valyrian. It doesn't even sound like a human voice. 

Footsteps make her head turn toward the entrance. There is Kinvara looking at everything with a sharp look. Daenerys decides to act long before even the thought could cross her mind. She knows that she only has as much time as the god allows it.

"My threshold...the threshold you have promised all these people who have followed you so devotedly," she says, lifting herself up on her elbows. Head tilted with pain. "What's going to happen to all of us? You made a promise!"

Something hurt through her. Rather a sensation. She had roused R'hllor's anger, though at that point, after all, she had gone through to fulfill her divine will, the damage seemed innocuous. 

"A promise is still a promise. Now you don't get it, but you are going to. You will see." R'hllor walks up to position himself in front of Daenerys. Kinvara mimics the movement approaching from the other side. "Kinvara," Quaithe raised her eyes to meet those of the priestess. "You have been my most faithful follower. The first flame that was lit after the long night. Your sacrifices and your obedience will bear fruit."

Dany turns to see Nissa Nissa's reaction. A woman who had waited thousands of years to be reunited with the son she lost for believing in fate. And what was fate but a sweet lie to justify one's hardships?

"Get on your knees, daughter of mine," Quaithe orders. Daenerys feels Kinvara kneel behind her as her eyes continued to watch intently the movements of the god. "I'm going to look for you again. You didn't want to see it, Daenerys Stormborn, but you were as obedient as the first servant. The two have been joined by something more powerful than a story. My last gift to you is to give you free will for I know your hearts and minds, and I know that treason is brewing in them."

Dany closes her eyes. For her, it is a simple decision. However, Kinvara...she has been on the side of the red god, without a question for so long.

"But I must warn you that every victory involves sacrifice. Renounce to me and you must renounce your thresholds."

That's it, Dany thinks. It will have to happen. So that's what it was all about. Maybe it wasn't even the first time this happened. Just like the Raven's cycle of chaos, R'hllor knew neither beginning nor end but mere existence and suffering. And he had made them aware of that because they were part of the game. Each and every one of them.

Kinvara sucks in a deep breath. 

"Daenerys Stormborn is the one who has been promised. It all ends with her," the priestess says, always in that thick, emotionless voice. "I always thought that my lord spoke of the magic of this world because the Realm of Men is not worth it. But now I understand that perhaps it was my mistake to think that it was only an end and not a beginning."

Daenerys throws her head forward in a defeated position.

"It is not the Realm of Men, nor magic, nor the game that must end," Kinvara announces, standing on her feet, "I think it is time for my lord to see his own end."

In a quick movement that takes Daenerys by surprise, Kinvara rips Quaithe's mask from R'hllor. She, knowing that it is an impossible vision, covers her eyes just like Gendry and Meera did when they finished with the human mask of the Raven.

She feels a pair of arms dragging her back as she recites ritualistic words that summon something Dany fears knowing what it will be.

"Remember your words, Daenerys Stormborn. Remember what you were made for," she whispers once more.

 _Fire and blood_ , she thinks. I am made of fire and blood. 

"What are you doing?" she asks as everything around her becomes incomprehensible and painful.

Pain. She can feel the pain.

"The magic of the Raven now resides in you. Fulfill your destiny and finish what you have come to do."

**R'hllor**.

He is there, in all things. In the fire that he favors as he is in the ice that is just as great. There is no one without the other. Opposites and extremes as they are, this world needs both. 

Ice magic...magic of the mind, that belonged to his son, now belongs to the warrior of fire. 

R'hllor turns and looks one last time at the Realm of Men.

Ice and Fire. Winds of winter and smoke. In the ground, a storm of swords. In the cloudy, gray skies, a dance of dragons. They look like winged shadows closing invasively over the ruins of what would never be again. Their shrieks resemble a feast of crows. 

A game of thrones, a clash of kings...it was just the game that men played to pretend they were gods. 

The hope that stems from a dream spring.

Behind R'hllor, Daenerys Stormborn lives up the saying of old. Targaryen answered neither gods nor men. 

So it all ends. 

**Daenerys**. 

Everything hurts too much. She can feel everything and feel herself in everything. It is like being bathed in dragon fire and at the same time, like falling into the frozen water. 

R'hllor's face is now clear before her eyes. 

Daenerys extends her hand. She gives him the same invitation that he has made to the Raven. It is not a thoughtful gesture, but she deduces that it makes sense after all.

R'hllor accepts, and then everything turns white. 

In her last thoughts, she asks herself again if it was worth it and she knows it has been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The paragraphs in R'hllor's part have obvious references to Robert Frost's poem and to the titles of the books in the series, obviously.
> 
> Is it pretentious? Sure. Did I have it saved in my notes since I started the story? yeah.
> 
> Here, the explanation.  
> (actually quite simple, but I tend to deviate from the outline when I write)
> 
> \- Helpless, Daenerys watches as R'hllor doesn't want to leave the game. Kinvara approaches. Dany notices she is equally unsatisfied with what R'hllor intends.  
> \- R'hllor quickly grasps that they both disagree with him and plan to betray him. He gives them free will, though on one condition.  
> \- Kinvara decides to use the magic of the Raven that has been released by Meera, in Daenerys.  
> \- Daenerys converges both magics. She uses them to destroy R'hllor.  
> \- R'hllor in his last reflection seems ambivalent. I leave to your interpretation if he was taken by surprise or this was exactly the destination he wanted to reach.  
> \- Daenerys dies, of course. Both magics also killed her. :(
> 
> Sorrryyy ya' know this has a happy ending so relax and enjoy the angst.


	18. Waking up

_**Jon** _

_**Dragonstone**._

_**304 AC**._

_He woke with a start. The walls were shaking._

_Instinctively, Jon went in search of Longclaw, although if that were the case, it would be incredibly useless to fend off what appeared to be an attack._

_Jon sighed and calmed down. At this point, it was already an exaggeration to wake up the same way every morning. He was in Dragonstone, not in Winterfell, and what made the walls tremble was the weight of dragons who enjoyed climbing the tall towers of the fortress._

_Dragons. Bloody and very real dragons._

_He sat back on his bed and laughed at himself._

_He went to the window and saw that a small light was just beginning to appear on the horizon. He decided that he would rather go back to the mines and take refuge in the dark than keep waiting for a sleep that would not return._

_It was still too early for the rest of the castle. The only other souls he encountered along the way were the Unsullied and Dothraki guards who jealously guarded the queen's apartments._

_His heart skipped a beat but he ignored it. He had to get away from those pernicious thoughts. The dead were looming them and he still couldn't find a way to convince Daenerys to form an alliance._

_"You are a king. She is a queen. You both are young and she is beyond beautiful!" Davos had insisted the night before._

_"My duty is with the North," he reminded him, "They will never accept a southron queen less a Targaryen one."_

_"You Northerners and your stubbornness," the old sailor grumbled._

_The truth is that in other circumstances, it would have been the way to go. If he had more time...time to put everything in its place. To convince Sansa that it was the right path, but Jon knew that if he took that path - if he gave in to his own desire - then his sister would have the perfect reason to destabilize the little balance they had at the time._

_And the North couldn't be unprotected now, they were on the front line._

_He cursed himself again. How lucky he would have to be, a bastard, to end up with the mother of dragons. Nothing could be so good. She probably didn't think of it that way, either._

_After walking the long way to the beach, he stopped in shock as he found her on the way. Without guards._

_She was on her back, so she didn't see him. Plus there was a long distance separating them. Still, he could see she was barefoot, feet buried in the sand as she watched her dragons soar through the skies._

_It was quite a sight._

_What impressed him most was how much she stood alone as a person. Dragons, Unsullied, Dothrakis. What kind of person was she to achieve all that if at first glance she was just a young woman?_

_He admired her even if it still bothered him how arrogant she turned out to be._

_And how could she not be? he thought. After all she had accomplished. But beyond that - beyond the beauty and the power, he saw just a woman burdened with a heavy load. It made him want to make something to lighten her burden._

_Daenerys realized he was watching her and turned to face him. Jon stilled in his place,_ _a little embarrassed to be caught up._

 _She only stared at him with a frown before nodding softly in greeting,_ _and walking to the other side of the beach, back to her castle._

_I have a duty, Jon reminded himself. But how he wished at that moment to be able to forsake duty for a time and follow her to the end of the world._

**Ruins of Summerhall.**

**318 AC**.

He wakes up with a start. Heat and cold envelop him at the same time. He tries to stand up but a sharp pain in his rib prevents him. A dagger. Dany's dagger. 

Jon tears off the sharp object while letting out a groan. It is not a deep wound, but it feels like his whole body is breaking. 

"Dany," he says in just a whisper, "Dany?" he calls her again, receiving only the echo of his own voice in response.

Behind him, Barristan lets out a wailing sound like he's a hurt pup. Jon turns to see him and notices that there is sadness in his eyes.

 _No_ , he cries in his mind. _No, no, no, no._

"Dany, what did you do?"


	19. What Happens Now?

**Gendry**.

He manages to leave the castle moments before one of the dragons - he doesn't know which of all - hovers over them with a long flare coming from his snout. In front of him, there are only ruins and those misshapen roots that belong (belonged?) to the Raven. The soldiers have stopped their fighting to observe what is happening behind him, in Red Keep.

Gendry stops and turns around, Meera still unconscious in his arms. The other dragons also join and together, the three beasts began to burn and destroy what was left of the ancient fortress of the Targaryens with their fire.

"My Lord!" someone screams. Gendry's face veered toward that voice. "My lord, where is the Queen? What do we do now?"

 _What happens now?_ He asks himself as well. He has never been this adrift. 

He wants to answer but the staggering event taking place in front of them distracts him. The fires swallow the remnants of the castle, wrapping it in a great gray -almost black- cloud of smoke. 

"It's collapsing!" someone else, an unknown voice, says desperately.

The thunderous sound of the collapsing towers finally makes him abandon the state of disbelief to give way to an urgent survival instinct.

"Retreat!" Gendry commands. "Retreat!" He repeats. 

When all is said and done there's not much that can happen. 


	20. The Dragon's Sorrow

**Jon.**

He floundered the ruined hall, holding the bleeding wound to his rib as cold air enters his lungs. Barristan stirs behind him as if asking him what was wrong.

_Why has Dany done this? I begged her not to!_

Overwhelming desolation washed over him, weakening his gait and forcing him to give in and kneel on the frozen ground. A guttural sound escapes his throat at the realization. 

Barristal snouts him, urging him to get up. With what strength? He has no reason to do so. Everything he has feared might happen has happened. He has no doubt that coming out of these ruins, there is the reality he won't be able to survive. 

_You’ll be fighting their battles forever._

_You’ll be fighting their battles forever._

_You’ll be fighting their battles forever._

He was right. Nothing had mattered in the end. Neither his honor, nor his good intentions, nor his determination to correct right his wrong. His fate is determined.

His fist clenches over a mound of snow as he feels a storm brewing within him. Red. All he can see is red. 

His feeling echoes through Barristal's war cry.

The world does not deserve to be saved. The world does not deserve to be changed. The world deserves fire and blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good God, +11.000 words and we are still halfway there.


	21. The Threshold of Dany

**The Threshold.**

**Dany**

_If I look back, I'm lost_. 

She walks and walks until the heavy gate began to rise, revealing the other side of the Wall. This time is not revealed a white and snowy landscape but a field of living and radiant nature. Songs of dancing birds in the air, somewhere she can hear a waterfall, and in the sky, the brightest sun she'd ever seen.

She does not feel cold (she did not feel it the first time), she does not feel heat, pain, or anguish. 

In this place, she feels welcome.

After all, she is here. She is in the threshold.

" _Muña?_ "

That voice sounds like a lullaby that soothes her soul and fills her with joy. Dany turns slowly, the emotion seeping through her soul. In front of her is a younger version of herself but curly silver hair and dark eyes. 

" _Faeith?_ "

First, the girl blinks confused. However, a smile is drawn on her face at the realization. _How long have you been waiting for a name?_ Dany wonders herself. 

Shortly after, someone else walks behind the girl. He is a young man, with dark hair, golden skin, and greenish eyes that look at her with a fierce stare. 

" _Rhaego_ ," this time she affirms, smiling. 

So, she hears the song of dragons. 

Golden, green, and black break loom in the sky. 

Viserion, Rhaegal, and Drogon.

She is the threshold and here, she is finally happy and unburdened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course, Dany returns to the threshold. You can interpret this as if the thresholds are higher places than R'hllor or simply R'hllor is still somewhere and has finally fulfilled his promise. I leave it to your interpretation.
> 
> I almost went full angsty here with Dany crying and all but I wanted to portray this as a happy moment. I chose to be short and simple. I guess that's the concept of paradise. I still have my mother's voice in my head telling me that paradise is a new beginning. In the case of Daenerys, the first time I wrote this scene (curious fact: I had written that scene shortly after the end of the show) I wanted it to be a moment of full happiness for her. 
> 
> In the House of the Undying (in the show) they had tempted Daenerys and she had stayed there had it not been for the call for the help of Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion.
> 
> At the beginning of this story, she wants to stay but comes back for Drogon. 
> 
> We'll see what comes next.


	22. The Grief Of The King

**Gendry**

Meera coughs as the healer places a wet cloth on her face and forces her to inhale and exhale. He himself went through the same process after being engulfed in the storm of rubble and smoke that consumed Red Keep and spread throughout almost the entire perimeter of King’s Landing.

The dragons were still hovering above the remains of the ancient fortress. _Of_ _its ruins_. A hint of hope tells him is because somewhere in that mess, Daenerys is still alive. But as soon as this hope comes, it goes. The fire had burned all night and even as the sun peeked over the horizon, the crackling flames could be heard from whence they are. 

Gendry rubs his eyes feeling every muscle in his body burn as he gives in to fatigue, leaning back on the cot. He closes his eyes and recalls the stories that spanned the Seven Kingdoms about that period where Jon struck down fortresses and port cities demanding peace with fire and blood. He was no man back then. He was dragon and he was beast, and while the mere sight of a dragon might upset people in Westeros, that of the red dragon, in particular, made chaos immediately reign wherever it went, making people forget about any pretense and return to their most primal instincts.

 _He's going to kill us all_ , he thinks, not in a complaining manner. If anything, he is so exhausted from wars and suffering that the worst scenario seems even hopeful.

That until he hears the havoc that comes at the mere sight of the red dragon. 

**Jon**.

"Your Grace!"

"Get your hands off me!"

In other circumstances, surely Jon would have felt bad for mistreating that elderly woman who only tried to help him. His wound throbs and bleeds, but the adrenaline that has shot through his body prevents him from thinking correctly. The only thing he has managed to figure out before getting off Barristal and sending him to fly with his kin is that it was not time to be on top of him. Not yet. Not until he finds out if what he knows has happened, has really happened.

As he walks toward the heart of King's Landing ruins, people kneel in silent respect. Jon wonders if this brought satisfaction to Aegon the conqueror, the veneration of the seven kingdoms for the life of his sister-wife Rhaenys.

 _It is not worth it_ , he, a bastard despite all the titles, believes. The hole in his chest cannot be filled with any glory, any victory, any kingdom. Life has denied him of something as simple as peace. Duties, responsibilities, burdens, and tribulations have been forced upon him over and over again.

Bastard, Lord, King, Conqueror. Men have fought, killed, and died for those titles. And it wasn't worth the woes that come with them. 

All he longed for was a full and happy existence with the woman he loved and their son. Something so simple and so unattainable.

Why? Why him of all men?

He reaches the foot of Red Keep stairs. At the top, there is no longer any structure that could carry the name. He still holds the bleeding wound with his hand, probably draining him of all energy, even from his life. This is how he feels his heart rumbling in his chest as he climbs up and expects to see Daenerys, the wings of Jorion, or any of the dragons spreading behind her.

This time, he would go to the end of the world with her. Spreading fire and blood with her. 

What he finds is Jorion's glowing golden body curled up on himself, protecting her, he knows, as Drogon has done even when she was already gone.

Jon drops to his knees and lets out a cry.


	23. You Must Look Back

**The Threshold.**

**Dany**.

They sit quietly on the grass in front of the waterfall whose rumor she has heard from afar. She doesn't remember how they ended up there but doesn't care. Her mind is calm. For the first time in a long time, Dany doesn't have the urge to think too much about anything but just flow and let go, like you're in a dream. A good dream.

Drogon purrs and rests his muzzle on her lap. He is smaller than his brothers. She don't need to ask why. 

Viserion and Rhaegal also rest nearby. 

"I like my name," Faeith says suddenly, her messy curls moving with the force of the wind.

Both of her children spoke to her in High Valyrian. 

Dany smiles, remembering Jon naming her. A painful memory, without a doubt. But not here. Here it is as if there is only one sense for the things.

"Your father gave you that name," Dany replies, "And I gave you yours," she adds, looking at Rhaego.

Her older son, leaning back on his elbows, also smiles at her. He is silent. He conveys everything he wants to say with his gaze just like Drogo used to. She would like to ask him if he has seen him again, but she just doesn't.

"When Drogon came here," she asks instead, "You were here to receive him, weren't you? You hugged him and sang him a lullaby?"

Faeith nods, reaching out to pet Drogon.

"He was scared at first. I could feel him fearing that something would happen to you. If there's one thing he's always wanted, it's that you live."

Dany gazes spellbound at her dragon son, who gives her a look of pure adoration.

 _I have missed you so much_ , she thinks putting a kiss on his snout. _I have missed you all of you so much._

"The dragon has three heads," Rhaego speaks, after a long time. Or maybe not. The time here seems nonexistent.

Dany thinks she knows what he's saying. Three dragons and three dragons. Her circle of happiness is complete.

She knows that here, she will be very happy, there is no doubt that she will be.

And yet...

"I am going to tell Daejon about you," Dany promises, "He will always know about his dragon siblings. Drogon, Rhaegal, Viserion," she looks over at her daughter, "His sister Faeith," then at her eldest son, "And his brother Rhaego."

It is not really a farewell. She has never had a chance to say goodbye to them except maybe to Drogon.

It is not necessary. She knows in her heart that it is not.

Dany looks over her shoulder at the wall. The gate is still up, the tunnel open.

 _It always has been_.

Rhaego gets up and envelops her in a strong embrace. He is immensely tall.

Her oldest son, that child who could not be but was now a man, caresses the side of face before walking away to mount Viserion.

Dany follows him and faces the golden scales dragon and immediately recognizes in those eyes the same brightness that she has worn for years.

"I promise you that your children will live many years."

 _The hatchlings_. Viserion was the mother.

Dany then looks at Faeith. The daughter for whom she had cried so much and whose thought used to bring her so much anguish and sadness, now in front of her, overwhelming her with happiness.

"Tell my father-" Faeith says but trails off, frowning and stuck in one thought surely. Dany can see the resemblance to Jon. "No, don't tell him. I'm going to do it myself someday."

Faith, of course. How not to have it here?

Mother approaches and takes the face of her daughter, watching her closely, engraving in her memory her precious features. She knows that it will be easy to find her in herself as in Jon. Never again would she be the memory of what could not be but what is. Of what exists and persists.

Faeith kisses the palm of her hand and also smiles knowingly. Dany doesn't feel sad when she finally turns away to walk towards Rhaegal. Letting her go is not painful now.

The green dragon looks at her mother inquisitively. To which she replies making to him the same promise she did with Viserion.

"Rhaegal was your father's first mount," Dany comments.

"I know," Faeith answers.

Drogon purrs to remind her of his presence. That connection between them, although weak now, still there to make Dany know that it is true, her son, first of all, wants her alive.

Her children. She looks at them and there is no pain.

"Sōvētēs!" Dany tells them and with this the five of them take flight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some time ago I read on reddit a very nice interpretation of this Quaithe's quote in Dance of Dragons:
> 
> "To go north, you must journey south, to reach the west you must go east. To go forward you must go back and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow."
> 
> According to this interpretation, the phrase would be more related to Daenerys' mindset of "If I look back, I'm lost."
> 
> Quaithe would be encouraging Dany to look back. To retrace her steps. Not deny the existence of pain.
> 
> I would like to take part of that interpretation here, in the sense that Dany must look back. Walk forward without forgetting. Her children are dead. But they existed once and that cannot be erased. 
> 
> This is the reason why Dany no longer feels sadness while on the threshold (contrary to the previous times she was there). She has already made peace with her pain. She was already living her life, she had forgiven Jon and they already had a son.
> 
> The threshold, yes, it brings her happiness but the happiness that Dany seeks is no longer there.
> 
> In the next part, we will see how is that she comes back.


	24. Now And Always

**Gendry**

Thick gray clouds spread over the sky. Small, light snowflakes fell to coat the ground and its wreckage with a veil of whiteness. The land is beleaguered by sorrow. 

He pushes aside several people making his way to the ruins of Red Keep, right now surrounded by soldiers and more curious eyes. He still does not know what is happening, but prepares himself to face whatever it is and whatever that'll come from it. Meera follows him closely.

The generals are in the front line, and Gendry recognizes the northern one Theo Wull. The man looks at him over his shoulder, face is marked with battle wounds and the characteristic harshness of all the northern lords. However, there is something else, a veil of affliction that everyone shares before an event of remarkable sadness. 

Gendry swallows hard and looks up the stairs, before finally mustering enough courage to climb them up.

At the top, he sees it and understands the reason for the chagrined spirits.

There is the King of the Seven Kingdoms, lying on the rubble and debris his forefathers have built, holding in his arms the soulless body of his Queen as their dragons wardens keep watch over them. 

**Jon**

  
It feels different this time as if it were the burdens and not death that had weighed her all along. She feels light as a feather in his hold. Her expression is serene and rid of all unrest, as if she is asleep, dreaming of a wonderful dream.

 _The threshold. She is in there, and she is with them_.

Jon caresses the smooth skin of Dany's face with his bare fingers, remembering how she used to do the same with his. In his mind, he can still see those otherworldly eyes of her, watching him with so much affection and love.

This memory does not come to him with the painful realization of what he has lost, as in the past. Instead, he gives up and accepts it's done. The anger that filled his soul until a few moments ago, overshadowed by the chagrin and sorrow that has finished to drain him of all strength and might.

 _I have nothing to live for_. He thinks but it's not true. This reality is not the same reality as the first time this has happened. The thought of their son forestalls it. 

_Rather, I am nothing without you_. 

He does not shed tears, no matter how much his chest hurts and his throat dries. Jon believes it is not what Dany would've wanted. 

Time is eternal in this state of suffering and he does not want anything to interrupt this long farewell. Around him, there is nothing but haze and confusing shapes that appear and disappear. He doesn't know how to let her go. Not this way. Not physically.

Then he examines her almost mutilated body. Her clothes beneath these light armor, moistened with the blood that has drained through the open scars. He hurts himself by imagining the pain and agony that she carried to the very end. 

_I want you safe, happy, unaware of any kind of pain_.

He himself neglects his own bleeding wound.

 _I love you_ , he thinks as he puts a kiss on her forehead. _Now and always_.

**Kinvara**

Kinvara watches her brothers and sisters in faith walk these lands, shedding their robes and medallions lightly, surrendering themselves to the wind that turns them into the very dust they are made of. Each one has fulfilled their destiny. Some had done it long ago.

She is ready to depart this from temporary existence. It has been a long wait for her.

She turns around and walks toward the place where one last task awaits her.

"Do you have faith, Jon Snow?" Kinvara asks him as she emerges from her hiding place among the ruins, passing unnoticed near the dragons. She comes to stand in front of his sharp stare. "Because our Queen needs faith."

With this, she kneels down to finish her work.

"No!" Jon Snow stalls her. "Do not!" 

Kinvara squints at him.

"Don't bring her back. She already crossed it. She already crossed the threshold. There is no going back," he says as if he is trying to convince himself.

"I'm amazed that even now you still believe that is your decision," Kinvara replies in a condescending voice. "We have finished it. We have devoid of magic in this world. Now, it will be on its own and I have no doubt that men will find a way to destroy itself anyway." She smiles. "Rejoice, Aegon Targaryen, Jon Snow. You are no longer necessary to balance any magic. Your watch has ended. Now and always."

He watches and listens carefully but does not loosen his strong hold on his wife.

She sighs.

"The magic that lives in you, ice and fire, now lives through her too. If she chooses to return it will be through you, and the day one of you leaves this world, also will the other for _yours_ is the song of ice and fire. Now, the door is open as has always been for her."

Kinvara stands up, without saying another word. She goes back the way she came, ripping the necklace off her neck and letting the wind return her to the dust.

**Jon**

"Jon, what did she say? The others also disappeared," Gendry comes to him with his concern but Jon is not listening to him. 

An irrational fear invaded him when the priestess appeared out of nowhere to meddle with her twisted devices again. He held Dany's body more closely, fearful of any harm that could befall her as if she wasn't already gone. 

"Jon," Gendry calls again with careful insistence.

He ignores all calls of reason and cradles Dany's face as he waits for a sign, a movement, something that could tell him there is still hope.

Faith. He needs faith. 

"It doesn't matter what you choose, Dany. I'll love you now and always," he tells her before kissing her lips and hiding his face in the crook of her neck.

Nothing happens for what seems an eternity. No one dares to walk closer than Gendry has done to ask him to do abandon his madness.

It is there, on the point that his mind drifts off into an intermittent sleep that he feels fingers play at the nape of his neck and a soft voice, whispering, "I love you now and always."


	25. Home

**Daenerys**

**Dragonstone**

**304 AC**

_Frustrated by the words of her Hand, Daenerys paced the room pondering the conversation she had had only moments before. If truth be told, it was the full weight of the situation that made her feel this unsettled. And you have been known to lose your temper from time to time, he had told her. She was not losing her temper! She was losing the war!_

_And this whole affair with the North, she thought regretfully. It seems that whatever step she took was a step backward. One loss after another. How did this happen? Was she blinded and couldn't see that their guidance was actually undermining her quest?_

_Because I believe in you and in the world, you want to build. But the world you want to build doesn't get built all at once. Probably not in a single lifetime. How do we ensure your vision endures? After you break the wheel, how do we make sure it stays broken?_

_Daenerys lay on her bed and smoothed her brow contemplative. Tyrion's interest seemed sincere but it did not match his actions and his behavior._

_We will discuss the succession after I wear the crown, she gave him a curt response. This matter was always in her head, she was not foolish to this reality._

_It could be so simple, she thought, if there was a way to lift the witch's curse._

_I suppose he stares at you longingly, Tyrion's voice resounded in her mind._

_No, she chided herself to not dwell on unreachable prospects. A queen like her cannot afford such infatuation. Much less with a man than more than an ally was still a hindrance on her way to the Iron Throne._

_He is so determined to keep the North independent that he had not even proposed a marriage alliance, she reminded herself. When King Jon Snow discovers that she cannot provide him with heirs, he will have even more reason to rule out any reconciliation in that matter. And as much as Daenerys recognized his attributes, both those who made him an admirable leader and those who made her abandon her own resolve, she was in an increasingly weakened position._

_Tyrion was right, Daenerys admitted. Succession is a problem that she would have to deal with sooner than later._

_With this in mind, she got out of bed and walked to the desk, picking up ink, a quill, and parchment on her way._ _Once seated, she considered her options. Suffrage was one of the options that Tyrion had mentioned. But this did not seem enough to her, especially since if she remembered correctly, in the past it had only worked to place on the throne who suited this select group of voters._

 _I_ _t would be a different type of wheel, she thought._

_The other option was to find an heir. A trustworthy person that she could instruct, that could understand what she was fighting for. The first person that came to her mind was, ironically, Tyrion. She believed that despite her multiple flaws, he had a good heart and that was why she loved him to some extent. The reason why she had made him her Hand._

_Tyrion is older than me, and certainly, his habits are going to end up killing him._

_Daenerys dismissed that idea._

_As she searched her mind for some other option, Dany thought about her children. The only children she would have. Once she left this world, there would be no more Dragonriders. She was the last of her kind. A terrible foreboding washed over her, of people hurting them once she was no longer there to protect them. Ironic considering that it was them who protected her._

_I'm going to have to leave Westeros before I die, she concluded. Take them somewhere where they can be free, and I, die with the certainty that they are away from any harm._

_Daenerys sighed and rested her face on her hands, exhausted. Her entire fight was based on a mistaken assumption that she would restore her family's former dynasty._ _This was not so. She was endowed with_ _unmatched power. It had to mean that she was in this world to fulfill a greater purpose._

 _Again, Jon Snow came to her mind uninvited. In their conversation in the cave, he had looked at her in a way that no one ever had. Perhaps it was love as Tyrion implied, or maybe it was the amazement of seeing something that it was unusual. Yet in those words and his look she saw something else she couldn't explain. Almost like faith in her good nature._ _That was the reason why she followed the advice he gave her on the beach later. She shouldn't, Dany regretted. It wasn't as if she wanted to hurt the people of King's Landing, she would just go for Red Keep._

 _The old fortress of her family meant little for her at this point. They were all_ _gone, nothing would bring them back. She herself was unable to continue her lineage. All of this will be meaningless if she cannot at least sit on the throne once._

_Daenerys, the queen, let out a chuckle. She had heeded the advice of a man she barely knew! Someone who could be considered her enemy still! She has always been careful to put her interests first, uncaring of the people's opinion on her._

_Very well, she thought. Maybe if I can prove to him I'll be the queen Westeros need..._

_No._

_This is not about proving herself to others, she determined._

_She had to be resolved in order to change that which resisted being changed. She knew what was right, unlike Cersei. Unlike those who only seek to protect their own wellbeing at the cost of the most vulnerable lives._

_When I sit on the iron throne, the first thing I will do is gather the people of King's Landing and listen to them. I will make their voices worth the same as those of those who hold a title or lands. And this throughout the realm._ _And when I left these lands not to return, I will have left something better than what was left before me._

_She took up the pen again and started writing._

**King's Landing.**

**Present.**

**Dany**

"I love you, now and always."

As soon as those words leave her mouth, he lifts his face to meet her eyes. Immediately her hands cradle his face, who looks at her in amazement and disbelief. Tears welled up in Jon's eyes and fell hard wetting her fingers. He also holds her face as his legs still bear the weight of her body.

"You..." Jon starts to say but trails off, swallowing hard, "You've come back."

His voice is barely above a whisper. 

Dany feels a dry throat and can barely respond with a hoarse voice, "I told you can't lose me. It is not possible."

He let out a small chuckle. 

Then he lowers his lips to hers and seals them with a desperate kiss as he holds her so tightly that makes her wince.

 _Pain_. She laughs at herself. 

"Daenerys, gods!"

Gendry's voice comes as an interruption. 

She pulls away and looks over to where he stands with equal shock. Meera by her side with eyes wide open.

"How? I...I thought you died," she says. 

Dany makes to move but her whole body is sore and cold. She is not bleeding, but the journey has been just as strenuous. She tries to straighten up but Jon doesn't loosen his grip on her and looks at her apprehensively when she tries to let go. 

"I am fine. I am here," she tells him but she knows it's not that easy after what happened. After what she did. In his gaze, she sees mistrust blended with hurt. 

"Water," Jon says, wheeling off his face to Gendry. "Bring her water!"

She looks softly at him. An apology stuck in her chest. Dany startles when she remembers the wound the inflicted upon him.

"Your rib," she whispers, bringing her hand to his side to feel it. It is open and it's bleeding. "You are bleeding!"

The more she talks the more her throat hurts. Dany clears her throat and coughs, just as Meera brings her a wineskin and she drinks to quench her thirst. The sweet taste coats her mouth and this time around she doesn't despise it. 

"Please, mad people, tell us what happened...what...what do we tell them," Gendry reminds them again of the reality they are still in.

Jon shoots him a look that says it all. The dragons, too, snarl to him.

Dany forces Jon to look at her.

"I'm fine," she assures him, this time in a clear voice, "I'm fine, and I need to get up."

She realizes how dirty, sore, and unarmed she is. With her eyes, she searches for Warrior's Heart, finding her sword near where Jorion is. Her loyal protector is looking at her with enraptured eyes. 

"Thank you," she tells him. She did not think it would work.

Finally, emerging from the stupor, Jon helps her to her feet, still fearing for all the injuries her body carries. Truth be told, Daenerys does not care. She just wanted to be able to end this day. To go home.

As if reading her thoughts, Meera is the one who notices that Dany's eyes have landed on her sword. She approaches with care so as not to disturb the dragons, and takes it to retrieve it to her.

"Warrior's Heart," Dany says out loud, showing it to Jon. "Her name is Warrior's Heart."

He looks at her confused but understands almost immediately. 

"He'd be proud of you, Dany," he says, still holding her close from the small of her back. "All of them would be proud of you." And then he is again cradling her face with the most sincere and affectionate look. " _I am proud of you_."

Then she realizes that she has finally gotten everything she has wanted from the start. There, in the ruins of Red Keep, with no more Iron Throne, with no other gods to answer to and have done everything possible to break that symbolic wheel, and in total opposition with what this dream had meant the last time she was here. 

Dany ignores the presence of those around them, uncaring that they will consider her a monster. She musters the little strength left in her and kisses Jon, her husband, her King, and her family, thus she can feel safe again in his arms.

 _This is home_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like symbolism so here is one: 
> 
> \- In chapter 4, A Queen Who Wears No Crown, the chapter opens like this.
> 
> "A strong scent filled the air of her cabin, permeating her mouth with a sweet flavour she despised."
> 
> Here, it says:
> 
> "The sweet taste coats her mouth and this time around she doesn't despise it."
> 
> This is so because the last kiss Jon gives Dany before killing her tasted sweet (he had been drinking after she burned KL). Dany wakes up after death with that flavor and that is why her chapter in this story opens with that sentence. Now Dany no longer resents the sweet taste. It is also a reference to books where "sweetness" is Jonerys foreshadowing.


	26. Queen of the Seven Kingdoms

**Jon**

"You need a healer to attend to you," he warns, groping at the sides of her body to ascertain the damage. 

"You need a healer," she remarks, leaning on his shoulder and facing him with a sorry face. Suddenly, he becomes aware of his own wound.

"Jon, Daenerys," Gendry has to remind them of his presence. He clears his throat before speaking his concern, "We'll have to explain something to these people."

Jon is ready to say that people could go and burn in the seven hells. His wife is injured. He too. Any real duty can be solved later. However, that statement dies as soon as they reach the stairs and stare in amazement at the number of people who have gathered and that are watching them with equal stupefaction. He feels Dany's fist clench on his shoulder. He turns to look at her.

"We should go back," she says with a thin voice. 

"Where?" he asks in response. 

Again, she turns her face forward, looking beyond people and these ruins. 

"To the hill, to the shack, to our son," she states.

His heart skips a beat with the compression of that little exchange. 

Then, behind them, the dragons spread their wings, drawing a gust of wind towards them, almost knocking them back when they take flight.

Their attention turns to where they hear a sword be drawn. Theo Wull holds her high in the air, before driving a knee to the ground and the sword with him. Immediately his men - Northmen - imitate the gesture, and not long after, the rest of the soldiers and people that are there.

They all bend the knee before the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. 

_They all come to see you for what you are_ , he had told her long ago. Life found its twisted way to prove him right, finally. 

Silence.

He and Gendry help her climb down step by step until she is in front of the crowd. 

She takes a long, harrowing breath before asking Jon to let her go so that she can hold herself up in front of them. He complies reluctantly. 

Despite her small size, her figure looks huge in front of the kneeling ones. Jon thinks that she is going to turn around and ask for his help to continue moving forward, but instead, in a silent march, she advances on her own, while people make way for her.

He doesn't want to let her go, but an invisible force holds him back. Is his own conscience telling him that she is not leaving _him_.

Long minutes later, she has solemnly traversed through her subjects, reaching where the ruined structure of an arch hung that delimited the entrance to the city. There Jorion lands. Dany struggles up to his back, making Jon wake out of the stillness, but when he steps forward, she is already halting him with a knowing look.

Dany nods and gives Jon a smile only he can understand. 

_Out watch has ended_. 

Jorion spreads his wings and takes flight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Reflection time *
> 
> Yes, this story was never about restoration. I know it goes against the wish of many. I have no doubt that Jon and Daenerys would be good rulers for Westeros and that historically it would make sense to unite Westeros and Essos through the two of them as a Aragon-Castilla style unification. I swear to you that it crossed my mind in many instances while writing the story. However no, not for this story. This story was always about Jon and Dany. The only way to give them both a happy ending is to give them exactly what they always wanted: a home. If there's one thing the show never makes mention of, it's their desire for something as simple as family.
> 
> Another symbolism:
> 
> \- In the chapter King of the Seven Kingdoms, Jon arrives in Barristal to claim his crown. In this chapter, Daenerys walks towards Jorion, abandoning it. Full circle.
> 
> Also that scene is from Dany's POV, here is from Jon's.


	27. I Wish You Good Fortune In The Fights To Come

**Arianne**

"Your Grace, the King requests your presence."

Arianne set aside the container with porridge with which she was feeding one of the children from the camp installed near King's Landing. She rubbed her neck to ease the strain of long hours standing in a bad position. Honestly, she is surprised. Arianne didn't think she would hear from Jon and Daenerys again, at least for another long time. 

"Where is he?" she asks the guard who has come with the message. 

After entrusting one of her maids with the children, Arianne heads to where Jon Snow is waiting for her. King Jon. King Aegon. Too many names for someone who had been just a bastard, she thinks. 

Beyond the tents, near a clearing in the abundant forest, he is waiting with his dragon, who lay as if he were a dog at the disposal of his master. Jon is sitting on some rocks, stripped from his war armor, and clad in simpler clothes.

After a formal salute, Jon dismisses the guards. She searches the sky, expecting to see the other dragons. _Expecting to see Daenerys_. 

"She is not coming back," Jon tells her, having noticed what she was looking for. 

Arianne is aware of that, and with a heavy heart, she wept over that knowledge, notwithstanding happy and relieved that Daenerys is alive and safe wherever she is. 

"I have sent all your belongings to Dragonstone. Probably her people will be sending them to Valyria," she informs him, not quite knowing what else to say. Not that Arianne was trying to find out where she is now.

"She is there," Jon reveals, "She is with Daario's family."

"Oh," it is the only sound that escapes from her mouth. Her eyes well with tears at the reminder of his passing and the family he left behind. 

What will become of them? She wants to inquire about it, but it doesn't feel good to ask him anything. Somehow jealous of the affinity she used to share with Daenerys. Instead, she chooses to keep him abreast of the situation that concerns them at the moment.

"I've been exchanging missives with Lady Rhea. Wayns with food from the Reach are heading to King's Landing. Or what it's left of it. And I think I can contact someone in Essos to start rebuilding of the capital. Or at least remove its ruins. The disaster is, undoubtedly, significant-"

As she talks, he moves to grab something from a sachet she hadn't noticed that was there. Jon turns and hands her a sealed parchment reel. A document, she realizes, because of its size. 

"-What is this?"

He stands upright, clasping his hands in front of him. 

"Aegon I, the conqueror united the Seven Kingdoms to create a Realm. I, Aegon VI, whatever name history will assign to me, I make you Seven independent Kingdoms again so that you can start building something better." 

She recoils a little at the information he has just shared. 

Arianne stares in amazement at the parchment in her hands. If what he says is true, this is the most important document existing so far.

"The Citadel has a copy," he adds as if reading her mind.

"This is madness!" Arianne finally reacts, "You can't give up your crowns! Not after all we've bled for a bit of peace! Are you aware of what this means?"

Jon frowns.

"There's not much left to fight for, Princess. Whoever has the initiative to run along that path, is going to have to face the royal army of Valyria on behalf of Daenerys. And if it comes to a situation of exceptional disorder, there will always be dragons to fly over the continent for a few days and remind the lords and ladies where they belong." 

He puts into words a reality that seems unattainable.

"Daenerys told me that," he continues, staring blankly, "that if there is someone this land doesn't deserve but who will be there if need be, that person is you. And I think it's true."

She tries to search her mind for an excuse to contradict him. She is terrified of the responsibility they are leaving in her hands.

"No," Arianne shakes her head in disbelief, "Gendry, he...he has a claim."

Jon chuckles.

"Well, that's your decision if stick to the original plan."

"Not!" Arianne interrupts, "I don't mean that. When I go to the Lords with this document, the last thing they will do is think in another king. I mean that you could ask Gendry to do this instead of splitting the Seven Kingdoms again. Why me? I have no claim. I don't even hold Dorne's crown anymore!"

"Fuck Dorne, Princess. You are more than a single kingdom. You've been in Valyria. In the Common Council. You held the kingdoms in order when no one else was there to do it. In the past, people have told me that I was the right person to rule because I had no desire to do so. Duty without love becomes a bitter poison that debases the soul. You love what you do, you love to serve and that is what it really takes to rule this land and not lose yourself in its corruption."

He comes to stand near her, placing a hand on her shoulder and thus looking her straight in the eye.

"We are not leaving you alone. We are giving you the power. The Common Council esteems you. The lords will know that they cannot go against you without igniting the dragon's wrath. There is no other more suitable person in Westeros than you. It is not about your blood or your name, but what you have done to get to this point. Princess, queen, lady protector of the Seven Kingdoms, whatever name you'll bear, you have been the only worthy ruler in more than four decades."

He walks away with a serious look, back to his sachet.

"Of course, if this is not what you want. _We_ are not going to force this burden on you."

"We?" Arianne asks in a whisper. 

Then Jon takes out another small roll of parchment, this time a missive, and hands it to her. Arianne observes the message with the red seal of House Targaryen.

Hers is red. His, the black.

She opens it with haste.

> _Arianne,_
> 
> _I asked Jon to inform you of our plans before delivering this letter to you so that you could better understand my words here. I hope you forgive my absence, but after what happened in the last weeks you will understand why I find my time in Westeros over._
> 
> _I once confided to you about my desire to end my wars. To put an end to my obligations and to be able to fly to a place in some unknown point of this world where I can lie down on the grass to see my dragons fly freely in the sky._
> 
> _Far from wanting to burden you with my duty so that I can be free, I believe that this has always been a path we have been heading towards._
> 
> _In a conversation with your father, he had mentioned that power cannot make us something that we are not already. His words always found a way to rumble in my mind._
> 
> _You have always been enough and more than that. A_ _servant, a confidant, and a good ruler. You have never needed my validation to be all this. You always have been._
> 
> _I wish you good fortune in the fights to come._


	28. Aegon VI, The Last King

**Jon**

**Dragonstone**.

After checking one last time that all their belongings were in order, Jon laid Longclaw next to Warrior's Heart, sincerely hoping they would not have to be used again. At least, of course, it was to train his son, in what he hoped would be just a game, nothing more. In another chest, he saw Dany's wedding gown, and his heart skipped a beat. Atop it rested a smaller chest where it is the crown that Sansa gifted her, he knows that now. 

He shuts his eyes tight at the memory of the Starks, wishing that over time the pain and anger would lessen. _They took away what was mine_ , he thinks. In the past, he had mollified himself, finding this mindset particularly unbearable and selfish, especially since during that time he could only think of himself as solely owner for his actions. He still thinks that way to some extent. 

Mayhaps one day he will leave that feeling against them behind, especially since he would never deny that part of him that is of the North.

However, that day will not be today, nor tomorrow nor soon.

Jon closes the cabin door.

***

From the battlements, Jon beholds the Essosi fleet depart back home. Only one of them with the three-headed dragon sail. 

He and Dewyn watch the bay from the landing. 

"This place you go to," his old friend begins to say, his eyes narrowed by the intense ray of sunlight hitting them, "Is it cold or is it warm?"

"A bit of both," Jon responds, remembering that the last time he was in Naath, winter was on its onset, but before that, it was a mostly a warm place. "There are many butterflies."

"That must be good, I suppose."

Jon chuckles. 

"I'm not sure this is a farewell, but it is..."

"I'm going to miss you all," Jon interrupts, placing his hand on his shoulder and squeezing it. "You, Tormund, Val, everyone else."

Dewyn suddenly seems to remember something.

"What will become of the free folk?" he asks with a frown, "Do we have to go back to the Wall?... I mean, if they ever return home."

"Princess Arianne will have to take care of that now," Jon announces with a knowing smile, "I guess that means you're going to have to help her to-"

Dewyn looks away, swallowing hard.

This gesture takes Jon by surprise since he had been almost certain that it would be welcome news for him. He is about to ask her what happens to him when Dewyn starts speaking again.

"Arianne is a good woman. She has the most gentle heart I've ever known," he states, without a doubt. 

"And she is going to need you by her side."

"No," Dewyn laughs, "No, I don't think that's true. And anyway, I need to go back to the North. I need to go home."

Jon lets out a sigh. For some reason, he thinks he understands very well what is happening.

"You should go," he encourages him, also warning, "If your heart has made of home a place and not a person. In which case, I can't give you any more advice."

Dewyn ponders his words and finally nods in agreement. As much as he has experienced, he is still a young man and Jon knows that what is meant to be will be no matter what. 

***

Barristal lets the smoke escape from his nostrils as a sign of being fed up of waiting for him on the beach as Jon finished saying goodbye. 

"I hope it's not a long trip," Gilly, Samwell's wife, tells him after a long embrace. Of the few times they have shared space, Jon would always remember her for being a patient and a dutiful person always available to offer her help. And in a strange twist of fate, a distant relative of his and Dany's. 

"Keep taking care of him," Jon returns, looking at Sam who is at a respectful distance, observing, frightful of the dragon and his rider. "And you stop breaking vows," Jon also warns in his direction. "I'm not going to be here to chase old scholars to save your arse, Sam."

Gilly giggles.

Samwell approaches, clearing his throat.

"I still owe you an apology, your grace," he hesitates while speaking, as he has since they first met.

"I am no longer a king, Sam."

"You always will be one to me," he insists, as always ignoring Jon's wishes. "I mean both, you and Daenerys. You were born to rule the Seven Kingdoms. _Together_."

Jon scoffs.

"We didn't want it. We never have."

It is a truth so ingrained in the person of the two that it is almost impossible to believe for those who saw from the outside, two people struggling to make sense of their existence. 

"I understand," Sam finally says. "Again, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for letting Bran...I mean...the Raven-"

"Sam," Jon cut him off, walking towards him. He nods and offers him a tight smile. Jon turns and looks at Gilly, behind her Barristan. He looks back at Sam. "Some truths are better buried. Stay with that."

They hug each other tightly and Jon can hear him sobbing against his shoulder. The first time they said goodbye, at Winterfell, Jon hadn't felt so at ease.

Jon strides across the beach, toward Barristal who stretches with joy to finally leave. Already on top of the dragon's back, he hears Samwell calling him out,

"Jon, wait!" he screams from the distance. "What name do we call you in the records? you have been called by so many! The white wolf, the red dragon, the dragonwolf, the dragon king, I mean-"

 _Mad King, perhaps_ , he thinks. Jon chuckles at the thought. The truth is that his legacy doesn't matter to him anymore. 

"You know what?" He says, leaning on Barristal's thorns as the dragon turns spread his wings. In a louder voice, Jon shouts, "I hope I am the last king!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still laugh when I remember Jon being named Aegon on the show LOL you had one job
> 
> Four scenes more, and we are over.


	29. The Table of the Nine

**Arianne**

**Oldtown**

Arianne looks at the papers in front of her again and takes a deep breath, raising her head up to watch at all the people gathered around the table. The Starry Sept is the ideal place to reunite what remains of the Westerosi leaders and finally give them the official announcement. Not that they aren't already aware and that have them on tenterhooks.

She clears her throat and begins to explain.

"If the dragons are gone and the Seven Kingdoms are back to their original state, that means each kingdom is on its own," Lord Edmure Tully first spoke after she finished. 

Voices in the amphitheater rose. Arianne looks around, towards the people who witness the meeting, including some merchants, guilders and even smallfolk that were allowed. 

"Not quite so," Yara Greyjoy stepped forward to clarify, seeing Arianne with a knowing look. "Not to its original state. The Iron Islands will once again be an independent kingdom."

"Does that mean that all kingdoms become independent again?" Jynessa, mother of her half-brother and acting ruler of Dorne asks rather enthusiastic. 

"That cannot happen! Do you know how much disorder it will create in the kingdoms? The wars that will be fought in the name of petty kings...regions that will want to rise up in a separatist spirit!" Lady Rhea complained.

"Just when we believed there would be no more wars," added little Jaime, representing the Westerlands. Not Jaime Lannister, but his son, _Lannister of Tarth_.

"There will be no more wars," Gendry declared in a firm tone of voice. "We all agree that we are sick of war and we want to live in peace for at least a while."

Arianne listens to Theo Wull and Yara Greyjoy huff their disagreement. 

They continued arguing for what seems like an eternity, throwing up questions then don't allowing her to start answering. Arianne pinches the bridge of her nose and close her eyes. Her head is throbbing. 

"Just shut the fuck up!" 

Everyone startles, including herself. Meera Reed had risen from her place and intervened.

"And you are?" Lady Rhea asks.

Again Arianne is interrupted when she is about to answer.

"Lady Meera is the hero of the war of ice and fire. It was her spear that ended the Raven," Gendry brings out his pride, causing Lord Howland Reed to cheer. "And she's my betrothed too," Gendry adds, leaving Arianne with her mouth half open.

 _Too much information_ , Arianne thinks. We have to end this meeting with a resolution.

In one corner of the table, there is an empty chair, she occasionally moves her eyes to see. She had expected Dewyn to accept the invitation but he did not. He said that whatever decision she made, as long as it was fair to the free folk, they would abide by.

Her heart sinks at the memory.

"Jon and Daenerys' wish is for each kingdom to find its form of autonomy, if possible in peace," Arianne begins to say, immediately silencing everyone. "Although this document comes to put an end to the crown of Westeros as conceived by Aegon the Conqueror and the farce that tried to rule it for almost ten years, we will not turn a blind eye to the precedents and history of our land. The wars...they did not begin with Aegon the Conqueror. As Lady Rhea well says, there will be many factors to consider in wanting to proceed with the independence of each kingdom. My intention here today is to respect the voices and interests that you come to represent. "

She pauses to drink water and moisten her throat. She looks down at the papers in front of her. Daenerys' plans.

"At present, Essos is jointly governed by representatives of each free city and the guilds of the official offices of that nation as well as many other activities that put the Essossi economy into operation...This institution created by Queen Daenerys Targaryen intends to break power and distribute it across the vast territory. In that sense, we are stagnant." Arianne stands with a lump in her throat and her eyes full of tears that inevitably fall. A dream that could not be ... and that will finally be. Perhaps. "Right here I have the notes of Queen Daenerys that will become part of a historical record within the Citadel. It details the details of the creation of this system...one that she originally conceived to -eventually- establish in Westeros once she had taken the Crown of her family in the year 305 after the Conquest."

She takes a breath. Flashing to see in the onlookers, surprised and attentive faces.

"...I, Queen Daenerys of House Targaryen House, the first of the name and the last with it. Upon my death leaving no heirs, I declare that the Seven Kingdoms will return to a stage of consigned independence. Those who hold the title of Lord of the capital of each kingdom will become a Duke. Title that will be granted every ten years to a different Lord or Lady, elected by members of a temporary council to be formed for the purposes of said appointment. Once each jurisdiction has chosen its Duke or Duchess , he or she will attend a a yearly meeting where they will choose who will lead an intermittent Council that will oversee the harmonization of the Realm. This entity aim to seek peace and security for the Seven Kingdoms and Beyond, develop alliances between them and advocate for friendly relations and achieve cooperation with the foreign cities. The Iron Throne that has been a fundamental part of the strife for power in Westeros in the last two decades, must perish with me because it was built by my family and must die with it. This is my last wish in what I hope will be a long and peaceful reign."

Arianne finishes reading Daenerys's writings and finally extends the documents to the Citadel scribe. 

She takes a seat again and silently waits for the babble to begin again, however this doesn't happen for a long moment in which it seems that for the first time in his long crap history, Westeros agrees to remain silent.

***

A veil of melancholy covers that day, the feeling of farewell shared by many of those who have made that part of their life a way of living; war and uncertainty had forever marked their minds and hearts and now that winds of peace and certainty are blowing, only the memories that tribulate the soul remain.

Arianne observes that a man dressed in heavy furs is dragging a large wooden chest. A group of soldiers who pass by approaching him to offer help but he refuses with a scornful gesture. After a few seconds, the chest falls with a crash, opening at the base, exposing its interior. She sighs before laughing with a tickling sensation in her belly.

Some things never change.

After that meeting, long weeks passed until a council was unanimously created, a decision encouraged by the influence of the results obtained in Essos and by the very exhaustiveness of the long period of wars. The northerners were the most difficult to convince but once Theo Wull and Lord Howland Reed, one against and one in favor, reached an agreement, they finally came to the creation of the council of the Table of Nine.

The only aspect of Daenerys' plans that remained on standby was that of the election of dukes in each kingdom. While Westerlands, Stormlands, The Reach and surprisingly, Iron Islands agreed, the North, the Vale, Riverlands and Dorne said no.

All in good time, she thought.

Arianne, true to her word, informed Jynessa that she had no intention of returning to Sunspear but to Yronwood, from where she would serve as liaison for the affairs between Westeros and Essos. Her brother had been born with the purpose of becoming the future ruler of Dorne, as her father had planned, while Arianne had a clear goal in mind: to serve. Yronwood is her home, and from there she would have better communication with the new capital, Oldtown.

That was before she was finally elected to head the council. At least for that first year, since no one else seemed to want to take the place of _harmonizer_ of the Realm. Arianne was sure it would be a task no without its challenge.

"Your majesty," someone calls from behind her. It's Yara Greyjoy. Captain Yara Greyjoy. _Duchess_ of the Iron Islands, Yara Greyjoy. While Arianne had no doubts about the woman's loyalty to Daenerys, she had questioned her why she had agreed. Yara's reply was that this was the Ironborn way anyway.

"Your Grace," she responds with a slight bow of the head. The woman is not adept at customs but is diligent and helpful. They had little to do in Valyria, where she used to spend her days getting drunk and in brothels to forget the frustration caused by the years when she saw her legitimate right over the seat of his family circumvented. Now that she has recovered it, she hardly even spends time there and rather sails back and forth, the drowned god they worship knows why.

"I wanted to know if there was anything else I could be helpful with," she speaks in a polite tone, not the suggestive one she used with Daenerys. "My crew needs to go home. I, _I guess_ , have to lay down my arse and start setting my eyes on the administrative crap."

Arianne smiles, turning and walking towards her. "We must all go home, Yara."

She nods, blinking, and fixing her gaze behind her, in contemplation.

"It will be strange," she says.

"What thing?"

"Live day by day without a constant weight on the mind." Yara lets out a long breath. "I don't think we'll ever see _her_ again."

Arianne understands what she is trying to express, and remembers what Daenerys has said to her other times.

_"Wherever I go, war follows me."_

One day the wars were over, at least those that seemed endless, and with them, Daenerys was gone too.

"I will miss her too," Arianne replies.

Both rulers walk down to the hall where the meeting had been held, and where is the round table with the Nine Chairs. The Seven Kingdoms, the Iron Islands, and The Lands Beyond the Wall. It is symbolic, of course. However, for three hundred years multiple battles took place and wars spanned years in the name of a powerful symbol such as the Iron Throne. Once this was gone, the power struggle prevailed as smoke endures the flame: what unites people are its symbols and their history, what unites peoples is the sense of belonging. Nine wooden chairs replace an Iron Throne, nine kingdoms represent Westeros, although distances and cultures separate them.

"I have sent reports to the Common Council of Essos on the situation of the Iron Fleet before the Narrow Sea Free Trade Agreement. Of course, we will have to include the Trade Guild in the negotiations, but I think we will have a favorable response. They know you and know that Daenerys esteems you. "

Yara scoffs.

"Yes, well, it is good that we have left your manners in charge, _Princess_. If I have to deal with those bastards again we are going to have another war, this time in the Sea where I have an advantage."

Arianne lets out another laugh but hopes she is not being serious. She wouldn't be surprised if she returns home to find some excuse to raise her ax in battle again.

"I wish you a safe journey, Queen Yara."

Yara nods, placing her hands in the pockets of her coat.

"After our lot of shitty rulers," she says, "I'm glad at least you care."

Insolent as ever, before reaching the exit door, she bows reverently.

Arianne rolls her eyes and takes a seat at the round table, looking at that one seat that belongs to the Free Folk. She is still young, she tells herself. It is time to live day by day, the time to be, and do what she always had wanted. The future is a blank page that she would write slowly, from now on. 

The doors open and she sees Lord Aramos from The Reach crossing them. Her first task of the day is to revise the new prospect of the tax policy.

She breaks out of her own thoughts, smiling and folding her hands above the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The concept of democracy, although it already existed, as we know it today, came about as a product of a long and tedious process of constructions and revolutions. 
> 
> Historically speaking, capitalism succeeds feudalism. Absolute monarchy is the precedent for the creation of the great modern states that would eventually lead to the successive revolutions that shaped the society in which we live.
> 
> In this sense, I always interpreted that "the badies" in ASOIAF were the feudal lords and not the monarchical system itself. Rationally speaking, it is so. 
> 
> Essos is supposed to be a more advanced continent than Westeros so in my head it made sense to close the story with Westeros looking for an alternative system of co-government without completely abandoning the established culture and customs. 
> 
> I like to think that Daenerys actually thought about what would happen after she died without leaving any heirs, in the time that she believed that. I also like the concept that Aegon has been the creator of the political system that governed Westeros for three hundred years and Daenerys has established another.
> 
> I am more in favor of an ending involving the establishment of an absolute monarchy in the books. Apparently, what we take for granted today is that Bran will be king in the end. In that case, I don't know how George is going to do to justify that at least, you know, Bran is actually the villain. Who knows.
> 
> As for Arianne and Dewyn, the end of this couple is in fact the only bittersweet ending that I hoped for Jon and Daenerys where neither of them died: Jon going to discover who he was in the North while Daenerys stayed to fulfill her goal of ruling.


	30. A Song Of Ice And Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This scene is one of the first I imagined, even before the premiere of season 8, except that it was starred by Sam and Bran. Until the last season, I thought Bran would end up at the Citadel helping to rewrite history.
> 
> It's just madness that D&D have neglected Bran's character so much knowing, since season 3, that he would be the most important character by the end.

**Meera**

**The Citadel**

It surprises Meera that it is a septa that receives them at the entrance of the great library of the Citadel, where Maester Samwell Tarly resides. She has heard that things here began to change thanks to Dorne's intervention, and eventually never stopped.

The place is so big and majestic that behind her, Gendry can't help but let out a whistle of surprise as he watches the great golden ball of their world hovering over them. Their necks would probably hurt from looking up too long.

The septa looks at them with little patience, until they finally arrive at the Master's study.

Allowing women at the Citadel, it is an amazing event. Seeing a Maestre like Samwell living with Gilly and her children is just scandalous.

Neither Gendry nor Meera knows how it happened.

"When I came here, the Order was moving east to study the wonders of Valyria's resurrection," he explains, making room for them at his large round table, where two heavy books with blank pages are resting. "Then, well," he giggles, "having a friend with a dragon also contributes to softening wills."

"You are the most intelligent person in the Known World, let us be honest," Gendry tells him at which Sam blushes. "It makes me wonder how many people out there can be like you but is not allow to knowledge, like you were."

"My father actually hated I would rather choose these," he points at the books, "Before his damn swords. I'm actually glad I got rid of his sword."

"What sword?"

Meera put a hand on Gendry's arm to make him stop the questions. 

"You'll find out when the books are ready," she says, setting eyes on Samwell, "Are you ready?"

"Of course," he responds. "Good that history can change with each new discovery, right? Imagine if we had never been able to correct the first one," he comments, bringing the quill and ink to the table. 

"The first one has its moments," Gendry says.

Meera smiles, understanding.

"When do we start this one?" Sam asks, "A Song of Ice and Fire starts with the death of Lord Jon Arryn, Hand of King Robert."

The three ponder. 

"You know that they say there are always two sides," Gendry says, "Put there all we know about...what happened when we thought everything had ended." He sighs. "When we thought it was a story about tragic heroes and monsters of ice and fire."

"I agree," Meera says. "It's better if we start where everything begun, the Song of Ice," she looks up to Gendry, "with the Starks in Winterfell."

"Will that make justice our King and Queen?" Samwell asks.

"The Song of Fire shall start with the princess across the Narrow Sea and how she became in...well, in her many titles. When both stories collide we shall start the true Song of Ice and Fire."

"Very well, then. Chapter one, A Game Of Thrones."


	31. A Dream Of Dragons And Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place after Dany leaves King's Landing and then, the present.

**Jon**

**Dragonstone.**

**After the events of King's Landing.**

_He saw Jorion's golden form resting on the same cliff where he once stood beholding the view of Daenerys returning from one of her battles. It was the same place where he touched Drogon snout for the first and only time. And it is also where he started falling for her._

_Dragonstone was where they met and fell in love but it was also where things couldn't find its way out sometime after. Then, they came back, cold and distant with the other because of those memories, but always within the reach when the cold was too much._

_The Targaryen as they were known had begun there in Dragostone, before spreading to the mainland. They almost died off in King's Landing twice. Might it's never perpetual and they just kept coming back._

_Despite the ruins, a relatively intact hall led him to the throne room. Along the way, he met a banner of House Targaryen, hanging gracelessly and with the tips consumed by the wildfire. Jon took it down and passed the loom by._

_The doorless, open ceiling place was still dark thanks to one of the towers that remains intact above them, covering them with its shadow. Jon was sure that the dangerous structure could fall and without much ado, kill them._

_He looked up and saw that t_ _he throne is also unscathed, unlike_ _the person who sat upon it._

_Despite being obviously in a bad state, she sat on her queen persona with her hands crossed in her lap and her chest out. Again his eyes fell there._

_"Thank you for traveling so long, my lord," she said and her voice was clear across_ _the hall. She feigned be not as someone who has died thousands of deaths. "I hope the skies weren't too rough," she added, more softly._

_Jon was serious. He wanted nothing but to hold her close in his arms but still...he was mad and need answers. The pain between his ribs throbbing and the memory of what she'd done coming back to his mind._

_"The winds were kind, your grace," he responded before standing closer, not as the first time when he saved the distance. "And I am not a lord, your grace. I am a King."_

_"Oh," she tilted her head, "My sincere apologies, then. I assumed you are here to bend the knee?"_

_"I am not," he replied in an earnest tone._

_He was now in front of her, at her feet more exactly, and would climb the steps but restrained himself from doing that, allowing himself to be wary_ _after being relieved and shocked at_ _seeing her alive._

_She feigned distraught, then._

_"Well, that is unfortunate. You've traveled all this way to break faith with House Targaryen-"_

_"Break faith?" he snapped, finally yielding the bottled-up anger._ _Jon shortened the distance, looking down to her eyes that start understating the extent of the damage. "_ _You swear an oath to me, your grace. To be by my side until the end of the days and then you put a dagger in me and abandon me to face by yourself certain death and leave our son and me alone in this world." She was not frightened but her expression softened and her lips trembled in a pout, making him finally bend the knee -not figuratively-_ _and rest his head in her lap while she ran her fingers through his hair. "_ _If there's someone who has broken faith with House Targaryen, your grace, that's you."_

_For a moment, he stilled there, reassuring himself in her existence. Tears fell down both their cheeks without them to notice._

_"I ask your forgiveness, your grace," she said after long seconds, sobbing, "Do not judge me for doing what I believe it was right."_

_He shook his head as he cried everything that he_ _forbade himself_ _while holding her lifeless body in his arms. Still seeing her so wounded hurt him, as if the pain was inflicted on his own skin._

_"And it was?" he asked then._

_"No," Dany stated. His Dany. His wife. Not the queen. "Would you ever forgive me?" she asked him with a thin voice._

_Jon forced her to get up and cradled her face._ _He absorbed the sight of her before kissing her long, tasting the salty tears in her lips._

_After that, he rested his forehead on hers._

_"I cannot fathom a life without you. I cannot. No more sacrifices, no more gods, no more kingdoms. Do never leave me again, and if you do, you'll have to take me with you."_

_She lets out a giggle amid stifled crying._

_"Do you think I came back just to leave you?" She shook her head this time, holding his face closer to hers. "_ _The first time I return, I was told I will cross a third time because of love._ _I never thought that crossing the threshold implied both directions, and rest assured, my love, I have returned for you and for our son."_

_Dany kissed him again, and it was there that he stopped feeling that he was losing her._

**Dany**

**Naath**

**Present**

When Jorion lands, Jon is waiting for her on the ground, urging her to jump instead of climbing down. She complies and they both end up lying on the grass while lots of butterflies emerge, flapping around them.

"It wasn't my best idea," he says, in a choked voice.

She laughs and relaxes on top of him, placing a tender kiss on his lips that soon he intensifies bringing his hands to her back. She pulls back and leans back on her knees to reach out a hand to help him up.

"There will be plenty of time for that," she tells him, humorously. 

"You can bet on it," he responds as a promise. 

They listen to footsteps and both their faces turn towards the sound. 

A stifled moan escapes from her mouth when she sees Torgo Nudho striding across the field, carrying Daejon in his arms, the boy gurgling and restless in his arms as he points at them both.

Daejon smiles and she can see the semblance of her own smile in him between all those features inherited from his father. His dark, curly hair is all messy.

 _They've finally reached home_.

**FIN**. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Symbolisms again.
> 
> \- The whole concept of reuniting at Dragonstone as the first time they met.
> 
> \- When Jon took down the banner like when Daenerys did the same. Yes, I know it is a Targaryen one but it's Jon's mindset, he just doesn't care anymore for those things and wants to go home.
> 
> \- Jon looking at the queen's heart (Davos winks from the sky)
> 
> \- The final sentence is more than anything, a wish of my heart.
> 
> It's done, guys. Thank you for the ones who have followed it through this weird format and sorry again for being the laziest fucker out there. LOL.


End file.
